Naruto: The moonlight kingdom
by Wiki627
Summary: A fic that takes place after the war. Life is back to normal but things are still rocky for our young hero. Note: This story will focus on Naruto's new developing relationship as well as how he begins to master his new powers. Warning: NaruHina. Mostly cannon with a few modification. See full summary on the inside.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. All rights and reservations belong to Masashi Kishimoto**. With that said however, I respect the creator and author of Naruto and it is my sincere wish to meet the author is person.

**Author note: While this story does indeed take place in the Naruto universe, I have indeed made a few modifications to it (please see summay below). To give a brief overview, this is my FIRST ever fanfic and it is a NaruHina one. **I apologise in advance if this story offends anybody but please do not spam or leave any hurtful comments. I have decided to join fanfic for the purpose of entertaining others as have many others on this website have inspired and entertained me. Thank you for your convenience.

**Summary/Overview: **As stated, this occurs in the same universe as the canon manga. However, I have specifically removed the Hinata from the Hyuuga clan. Hence, everything she did in the manga or anime NEVER HAPPENED IN THIS STORY. While she does exist in this story and is indeed a major focus [SPOILER ALERT!], she does not live in konoha or for, all intent and purposes, has never even meet any of the Rookie nine and hence is in no way a HYUUGA or a ninja for that matter. I know this creates a bit of a plot hole but please bear with it. If this story does get enough views, I might go back and try to patch up that little hole but now, I'll leave it to your, my dear readers, imagination. Storywise, this happens after the Fourth Shinobi World War.

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><p>Chapter 1: A new mission and a new resolve.<p>

"You think saving the world earns you the right to become hokage but no..." sighed Naruto, our blonde hero as he walked down the street. The looks of the villages that past by him were no longer glares but those which were of awe as if standing in the presence of royalty. He smirked slightly at the look of the villages but continued on his way.

Right now, the only thing that mattered to him was meeting a certain pink haired girl at the infamous training ground where he and his team first met. Today was the day, he thought. The day where he would confess to his crush of the feelings that he had harboured for the past sixteen years. He knew there a chance that she would reject him but all that mattered to him was his confession. He had battled an entire army of white plant-like clones, fought an entire horde of undead shinobi, not to mention stand toe-to-toe with the predecessor of the sage of the six path. Surely if anything, confessing to his loved one would be piece of cake?

Sadly, no. Hell hath no fury like a woman's scorn. And Sakura's was worse than anyone else's. Why, you ask? Well, discounting the previous sixteen years of mental, physical and verbal abuse that she gave him, anytime he tried showing her his affection, say a date, would most likely leave him with a sharp whack to his poor head. It was a miracle his head was still functioning properly. But I digress. Point was, only a very brave man would risk facing her wrath when she made it clear that the only one she wanted was her precious 'Sasuke-kun'. Well, that or a very foolish one. Numerous suitors had tried confessing to her which only ended with them hurt (emotionally) after being turned down nicely. For the more persistent ones, a certain 'persuasion' was required which resulted them never bugging her ever again.

So why, I hear you ask, when it was made so blantantly clear, would Naruto confess to his hot headed team mate? The answer; resolution. He had been chasing her for sixteen years and he wanted some piece of mind. If anything, he deserved, to at least have her attention to what he was going to say. If she rejected him, well, he would be able to finally move on with his life. Besides there were fishes in the sea and him being the saviour of the world, entitled him to an almost unlimied supply of said fishes.

**"But you don't want anyone else do you, Kit?" Kurama said**.

Ever since the change of dynamic between the bijuu and its jinchuriki, Kurama had done nothing but advised and look out for his beloved little tenant. Almost like that of a strict father and his young son. Naruto, for his sake, looked up to his bijuu as a father-figure and no longer treated him as an equal but rather a superior, seeing as how the Rikudou Senin indulged in him with the bijuu's history. And though, Kurama loved this new found respect, he loathed the way Naruto no longer made fun of him or regarded him with disrepect. There was something off about not having Naruto make fun of you, even if you really are the Kyuubi...

"No, I don't," admitted Naruto. "I'll never want anyone else but her Kurama...tell me, am I doing the right thing?"

Kurama remained silent, not knowing how to answer his young host. Truly, there was no wrong or right answer. What really mattered was whether the reasons being the actions were sincere or not. Many shinobi have made the right decisions but for the wrong reasons. It was something no matter how powerful you are as a ninja or how wide your knowledge of the ninja arts were concerned, that was able to help you. A prime example would be the sealing of the Bijuu into human hosts. It was considered the correct thing to do to sealed up the beast, well for humans anyway. But the reasoning? To create a pawn that would be a formidable weapon for use as a political tool? Many didn't like the answer to this question but it was a truth in the matter. Of course there were other truths as well, such as protecting the village from the beast's wrath but deep down, almost every shinobi only ever saw the bijuus as nothing more that tools to an end. It was a sad fact of the ninja world; humans were selfish creatures.

A fact that, despite the end of the fourth war, still retained. The child of prophercy had indeed ended the war but immediately after, villages went back to their separate ways. Things were definitely looking up but it wasn't going to change in one day, not even after a major war. In the end, nations only cared for their people as well as their stability in this game of power. Naruto had managed to shatter that game but there were many that wanted to piece back that puzzle. Afterall, it was the only way they knew how to lived. Like what Minato once told Naruto; the road to true peace will be a rocky one.

Sasuke had realised this, and upon the war's completion, had left to train himself to find a true solution to this peace. Naruto had offered to accompany him but he had declined. It was something only he could do. To use his words, this was his path of redemption. After leaving a life full of hatred and seeing said suffering in the aftermath of the war, he realised that his pain and suffering was nothing compared to the world. That being said, he gave up his life as a konoha ninja temporarily to pursue that of a wondering one in an effort to better combat the unbreakable cycle. Why he turned down his best friend's request was because Naruto had endured too much, before, during and after the war. Now, it was his turn. Afterall, it wouldn't be fair for Indra's successor to slacked off after everything that Ashura's had done when the Rikudou senin entrusted the world to both of them. All in all, Sasuke had decided Naruto deserved a reprieve from his life and had even earned a snide agreement from Kurama. Truth be told, Naruto himself wanted a break but didn't want his best friend running off again. Sasuke, however, promised to return, if nothing else to fulfill his oath as Hokage as well as being the one to put Naruto is his place. With that he had left, leaving Naruto along with Jugo, Karin and Suigetsu.

Tht had been three days ago however. Right now, things were starting to pick up again and things were going back to normal in the leaf village. The rookie nine had gone back to taking missions, as have several other ninjas from the other villages. Sasuke's team had left to find Sasuke, Kabuto left to seek his long lost orphanage, Obito returned to the Hidden leaf, Orochimaru disappeared, the Kages had formed a new peace alliance, shaky as it was, Akatsuki was dismattled, leaving it as nothing more than a broken shell. What of the Bijuu? After the resealing of the tentails and their subsequent released, they left to parts unknown but were once more tracked by the five major villages.

Anyone, enough of a brief re-cap, back to our blonde hero...

"**Tell me Kit...why do this? Why now?" Kurama asked, trying to avoid the Naruto's question.**

"I've been running away from my heart for too long. It's high time I changed it. I can't live like this anymore," Naruto answered sadly. "Not daring to go forward, holding onto that hope of what might be!"

"**You've grown wise...as well as brave," Kurama answered solemly. **Truth be told, he was feeling impressed with his foster son's development. There was another emotion as well; pride.

"No, I've just learned how to think...and to face my heart. Although I know what her answer will be." Naruto said. An uncomfortable silence lingered far too long between the two. There was nothing Kurama could say or anything he could do for that matter. They were finally at the dreaded training ground seven where team seven had first met two years ago. Sakura was there before them, sitting under a chery tree with a frown upon her face.

"Naruto, you baka! How dare you make a lady wait!" She shrieked. Balling her fingers into a fist, she rushed over to rap him smartly over the head, leaving a rather shapely bump upon his head.

"Itei!" Naruto answered, massaging his bump. Kurama growled menancingly at how his foster son was being treated. He never liked Sakura [AND I DON'T BLAME HIM-in case you haven't figured it out; I'm not a sakura fan but there will be no character bashing in this fic.] even though he was grateful that she played a vital role in saving his life during the fourth war. However, that gratitude could only ever go so far, considering the fact that she would take almost ever opportunity to beat poor Naruto for whatever nonsense that she could think of.

"**If only I could jump out of this body and give her a good beating before jumping back in," Kurama growled. "Nobody treats Naruto this way! Well nobody but me..."**

"I HEARD THAT" Naruto replied. Focussing his attention back to Sakura, Naruto tried apologising before succuming to another bout of head bonking. After the second hit, Sakura finally calmed down enough to accept his apology. Maybe she was too hard on him, she wondered but discarded her thought process. To her, Naruto would always be her baka friend even though he did save the entire world. Besides, her hitting him had become a sort of a habit for her and it was one of her ways of venting out her frustration. A habit that despite Ino's best protest and advice for her to stop, she had refused. Her responsed was simple; if Naruto didn't complained about it, he didn't hate it and why should she stop if he didn't hate it?

"So what did you want to talk about, asking me to meet you here?" she asked. "Tsunade shishou wants me to meet her soon for an important meeting. This better be worth my time."

"It is, Sakura-chan and please bear with what I'm going to tell you," Naruto answered. Gesturing for him to continue, he pressed on. "Sakura-chan, I don't know how to say it but...I loved you. I always have and I just wanted you to know that. All I asked is one chance to prove myself to you. So, please..."

An eerie silence followed as what Naruto said began to sank in. Sakura began to think of a way of putting him down nicely but saw that hopeful look in his face. A look that she knew far too often. It was the same look that led her having to give her more restless pursuers the aforementioned "persuasion". Seeing this, she steeled herself for what she was about to do. She wasn't going to like this and Nauto wouldn't either but it had to be done.

"Naruto, stop. I have never loved you and I never will." The look in his face faltered somewhat. Bracing herself, she continued, "I have ever only loved Sasuke-kun and I'm sorry to say this, you will only ever be my friend. Despite what people may now think of you, you will only ever be Naruto my baka-friend. There is no place for you in my heart and there never will be. So just please stop. Compared to Sasuke-kun, your intelligence is like that of a firefly compared to the moon [see what I did there?! Brownie points for those of you who got the reference and don't you guys start googling it! Shame on you for thinking such a thought!], your looks are nothing to his majestic features and while you may have power equal to him, you will never be his equal in any way in my eyes. Are. We. Clear?"

Trying to stop the tears forming from sliding down his cheeks, Naruto answered in a choked voice, "Crystal..."

With that he was gone in a sushin, leaving Sakura to sigh and rubbed her head at what she had done. A set of footsteps alerted her to the presence of someone behind her and she turned around, taking a defensive formation as she did so. She relaxed somewhat upon seeing that it was Ino but re-braced herself at the angry look on her best friend's face.

"How could you?!" Ino neraly shouted. Grimacing, Sakura turned to look away from her angry glance.

"How much did you hear?"

"Everything." Bracing herself, Sakura turned her head back to face Ino.

"It's not nice to eavesdrop on other people's conversation, Ino." When she didn't get a reply, she continued in a somewhat dejected tone, "You know I had to do it, he had a right to know that I don't love him."

"Oh really?" Ino asked. "I've seen the looks you've given that boy Sakura! The looks that you refused to acknowledge! I told you before, it's not impossible to fall in love with two people at the same time but I guess you've made your decision. For his sake, I hope you've crushed out any lingering feelings left in that heart of yours."

"I have and I will," Sakura answered steely. "How many times have I told you that I don't love him the way I love Sasuke?!"

"So be it," Ino said gravely. "But answer me this; what if Naruto found someone else? Someone he considers to be better than you? Are you sure you won't regret it? Are you sure you're not deluding yourself? Because God help me, Sakura, if you are, I don't care what it takes, I will stand up for what Naruto feelings. He's been through enough but you should know-afterall we all saw his memories."

"Don't worry your pretty little head off. I'll be happy if he does find someone else. He deserved someone like we all do but I'm not that someone."

"Good, because I'm planning to confess to him right here right now." Ino answered. Sakura flin as ched at Ino's answer and gave her a somewhat shocked look. It wasn't a stunned look as if someone was caught completely off-guard but rather a horrified look that a person gets when they found out that their partner was cheating on them. Just as she was about to demand what Ino meant, Sakura felt a sharp slap to her face.

"Liar..." Ino replied before giving her a hard glance and shushin away. Only too late had Sakura realised that she had snatch up the bait that Ino laid. Cursing silently, she began to go through what Ino had just said. It couldn't be true. They had discussions like this before but Sakura had always vehemently denied her affections towards Naruto. But why did Ino's outright confession bothered her so much? It couldn't be that she had always secretly admired Naruto could she? Shaking her head, she made her way silently to the Hokage's tower. It was almost time for her to meet Tsunade. Still, her thoughts went back to what Ino said and her reaction at her statements. It didn't leave a pleasant afterthought however; actions speak louder than words.

_That very night_

**"Kit, get up...get up! Get up I say or so God help me!" Kurama snarled at the limping Naruto in his subconscious. Just as he was about to grap Naruto in one of his tails, blue chackra chains erupted from Naruto's back to restrain the ninetails. They wraped themselves firmly around the ninetails frame but Kurama knew that Naruto wasn't using his full strength. **

"Leave me alone, Kurama," he whispered. An earth shattering roar was his answer from the fox.

"**The old man would be sad seeing you the way you are now!" Kurama growled. "Hmph, Ashura must have chosen a dud this time**..."

Hearing that name caused Naruto to turned around rapidly fixing a death glare at the ninetails. It wasn't so much the glare that made Kurama immediately wary of the boy in front of him but rather it had been an almost impossibly long time since the boy had even shown him such defiance. Especially with the way Naruto regarded Kurama as his father figure. This was the Naruto that helped put an end to Kaguya Otsutsuki and the fouth shinobi war. This was the Naruto that people were afraid of. This was the Naruto that could kill someone in just a blink of an eye. In other words; this was the Saviour of the world.

"Don't EVER use that name in my presence!" he snarled, unconsciously tightening the chackra chains around Kurama. For the first time ever, Kurama regretted teaching the boy his gekkei genkai. Sure it had been good to have the boy learn how to use his chackra chains to subdue enemies. In retrospect though, having the chains used on you, was not such a good feeling. Despite the disadvantage he was in now, Kurama knew that the only way out was to continue goading the boy.

"**You know its true! Would you have your son or descendant mopped around like this after a heartbreak?!" Kurama demanded. "Saviour of the world, Bah! Child of the Prophecy my tails! Child of the wailing is more like it." **

The chains loosed around Kurama as Naruto retracted them back into his body. Sighing, he stood up, "You're right. Mopping here is not something I should be doing. The world still needs me to fulfill my job. Sasuke still needs me. Teme can't do anything on his own."

"**That's the spirit! Now I want you to ask Tsunade to give you a mission tomorrow. It's been ages since you had one and what better way to take your mind of something than having a mission?**

**"**It better be a 'S' rank one at least. I never got to do one," Naruto replied.

"**That would be the list of your worries. Now, listen carefully, I want you to demand Tsunade to hand you over the scrolls that Kushina kept before going on your mission, understand?"**

"What?! Bachan kept certain things from me?!" Naruto felt hurt and insulted that his adoptive mother figure would do something as low as this.

"**It's the way of the world, Kit" Kurama answered. "Luckily Minato managed to impart me with that little piece of information before returning back to the afterlife. Damn council never liked the uzumaki clan anyway from what I've heard. Well...the civilian side anyway."**

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked.

"**All will be explained in due time, don't worry. It's just a shame that Minato didn't have any clan secrets seeing as he had a civilian background himself. Nonetheless, I'll be upholding my promise to your old man** **in teaching you the clan secrets of the uzumaki clan as well as your dad's secret repertoire of jutsu's."**

"Why do this Kurama? The war's over and the lands have once again achieved peace."

**"That may be but that doesn't mean that there aren't those who want to use you for their own selfish reasons. The civilian council for one wants to put you on a leash. It's one of the reasons why you were never given your clans' scrolls. Pfft, not that it matters anyway seeing as you've grown far to powerful for them anyway."**

"You're right in that regards. I just wished that I was able to keep the power that the Old Man gave me and Sasuke." Naruto sighed. Unknown to the rest of the shinobi world but to a selected few, once the war was over, the power that the sage gave Naruto and Sasuke vanished. The old sage later reappeared in their subconscious saying that the power he granted them was only temporary. He also added that having power granted to them on a silver plater was not the way the world worked. Only by sheer will and dedication would true power blossom. Naruto was reasonable satisfied with the Sage's answer but sasuke was very annoyed at losing the Rinnegan. Nonetheless, their power was gone and there was nothing either of them could do.

**"It's late Kit, might as well go to bed. We've got a long day in front of us."** Naruto nodded before going to sleep. Unknown to him, Kurama started going brooding. It was time to re-awaken the other beasts within Naruto. The other beasts had sealed themselves off into a corner of Naruito's subconscious during the after war meeting between the five Kages, of which Naruto was present. In order to prevent a conflict from erupting over Naruto having all nine of the bijuu's power within himself, the eight other beasts had decided to 'slumber away peacefully' so as not to alert any sensor ninjas within the war council of the tremendous power within himself. That being said, they elected Kurama as their leader, against Shukaku's disdain, so as to reawaken them when the time comes. The Bijuu knew that Naruto's trial would only continue and swore an oath to protect him and provide whatever piece of power that they have to the boy. It was time to fulfill that promise.

**"Gyuki, Chomei, Saiken, Kokuo, Goku, Isobu, Matabi...Shukaku," Kurama called, sending his tails and a wave of chakra into the pool of water he was standing on. Immediately, the eight beasts began to reappear in front of their self-appointed leader. **

**"It's been barely three days since we've sealed ourselves you damn fox! What's the matter? Couldn't look after the boy on your own?" Shukaku taunted. To the other beasts credit and Shukaku's obvious chagrin, Kurama ignored his taunt. **

**"It's time we taught him how to use more of our abilities. I can't help but shake the feeling that something bad is about to happen to the boy."**

**"I don't mind teaching the kid but I don't see the need for it. The boy's a hero in everyones' eyes. Whoever dare strikes him will earn the wrath of the five nations." Matabi stated.**

**"Besides Naruto is more than capable of defending himself. Kid kinds of takes after me, heh," Goku replied. This earned him a couple of glares from the remaing beasts.**

**"Four shoe peadlers equal one zhuge. If the other nations were to somewhat band together to strike the boy, who's to say he'll survive?" Kokuo argued. **

**"I agree with Kokuo, I could sense malice and envy from the allied ninja forces. Many of them had looks that wanted Naruto dead," Kurama added.**

**"They would dare harm the boy who saved their lives?" Isobu asked.**

**"Today's friend is tomorrow's enemy, Isobu," Saiken answered. "Still, young Naruto now holds enourmous political and military power. To attempt to kidnap or even harm him will not be possible. Not unless any nation wants to face severe repercussions."**

**"Not to mention Us," Chomei mentioned. **

**"Agreed" the remaining beasts put it.**

**"So when does this training for Naruto start?" Gyuki asked.**

**"Tomorrow," Kurama said with a sadistic look in his eyes. "And boy will he hate us for it...hehehe."**

**"I thought he was going on a mission tomorrow?" Shukaku argued.**

**"A second outside is an hour in here. We can train the feldgling all sorts of fuinjitsu, ninjustu genjustu and even taijutsu," Kurama replied. "However, physical training will required him to actually train his actual body. I see no problem with this. Anybody opposed to this training regime?"**

**Nobody answered.**

**"Good, meeting adjoured," Kurama said. And with that the nine beasts turned away from one another to focus on their own thoughts. **

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><p><strong>CHAPTER END!<strong>

**Please review on my chapter. I know its rough round the edges but please try to bear with me .**


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. **

**Author note: It's a bit fast for my next chapter but I want to get as much writing done while I'm still in a writing trance. So expect chapters to keep flying up for the next few days. Thanks for all my readers for finding my first chapter entertaining but I need a bit of help from you guys. Truth be told; I'm horrible at making up names for characters. If possible, I would be extremely grateful if anyone of you would be kind enough to suggest Japanese names for both male and female characters. Now, I'll just leave them anonymous until I can get a good name from the readers. Of course, I'll be giving credit to anyone who could suggest a good name to me. If possible could you guys suggest a name as well as the meaning behind the name? This way, I'll be taking your ideas to heart and use them into shaping the characters personality and growth.**

**Cleaning up a few inconsistencies: Thanks so much to luqie10 for informing me on who saved Naruto is Hinata was not there. While I had initially planned to backtracked a bit of Naruto's history, I have given a bit of thought to it and decided not to. My reason being is that I don't like flashbacks and I don't like having to repeat what happens in the manga in my fanfic. My fics will be totally new in order to catch as much of my readers attention as possible. But I digress. Anyway, to answer your question luqie10, Sakura will be the one who replaces Hinata in defending Naruto. However, unlike Hinata, she did not confess to him and instead helped stall him out in my story. Sakura however, of course did get hurt by Pein but was saved just like Hinata. **

**For Ryuujin96: yes, I agree with you. The bijuus are sentient themselves and I didn't like the way villages sealed them away. However, there is someone else that does carry a bijuu besides Naruto but it would be covered in this chapter so read on for more information [chuckles]. As for the age of Naruto and the Rookie nine, there are all about the same age as their manga counterparts. I think I messed up a bit by saying that he was in love with Sakura for sixteen years. What I meant was that "he had always been in love with her for his whole life" meaning that Naruto is sixteen [or about seventeen-surely he should have age during the Fourth Shinobi World War]. I aplogise for this inconsistency and am sorry for the inconvenience. As for how Hinata looks; well that would be a spoiler now wouldn't it? And lastly before I forget, Hanabi will be the one to replace Hinata's place in the rookie nine. I'm not sure what age I should make her yet. I could give her a special position where she is younger than the rest of the rookie nine BUT gets placed in with them anyway [meaning she's a prodigy herself] or I could make her the same age as the rookie nine. Tell me what you guys think about these suggestions?**

**On a side note; I'll be sorry to say this but the rookie nine will not be appearing much during the first few chapters in my fanfic. I have devoted this fic to revolve and culminate around Naruto and Hinata's relationship. However, I might change that if enough people want it. But the first few chapters will focus solely on Naruto. Hinata will soon appear and I can't wait for her to do so. **

**Thanks so much for reading my comments guys and remember you're all awesome! **

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><p><strong>Chapter 2: Truth and Inheritance <strong>

BEEP BEEP BEEP BE-BANG! As a large hand slammed down onto the alarm clock. Naruto groaned before turning back on his side and covering his head with his pillow. He was still groggy from having been woken up and was definitely not a morning person. Just as he was about to fall back in a slumber, an annoyed voice spoke up.

"**Oi, get up. Remember today's the day where you're supposed to be doing a new mission!" growled Kurama. **Ignoring his tenants complain, Naruto went back to snuggling onto his bed. Shortly after, snores could be heard from his room.

Kurama was not amused to say the least. If this was how Naruto was going to behave...well there was more than one way to wake up a sleeping person. The rest of the bijuu shuddered at what Kurama was doing; filtering Naruto's memories until he found the right one to wake up the poor sleeping boy by projecting it deep into his dream...amd making him re-live it over and over again until said blonde wakes up.

"**And I thought I cause insonmia..." Shukaku muttered. **The rest of the bijuus nodded but dared not interfere with what Kurama had in mind.

"**I love being a sadist," Kurama chuckled darkly, before forcing the memory onto Naruto's head. **

Currently, said blonde was having a beautiful dream where he was walking head in hand with Sakura. And she with him, blushing happily, when all of a sudden he found himself locking lips with a raven haired boy in a classroom full of preteens at the ninja academy. Realisation turned to shock and shock turned to horror as Naruto realised where he was and what he was doing. He tried desperately to push his hands and head in an effort to break free from the kiss but found he could not. Apparently there was some unknown force outside that was preventing him from escaping this dark moment in his history. What was even more horrible was the fact that Sasuke was looking at him with those heart shaped-

"AH!" Naruto screamed, waking to find himself drenched in cold sweat at the horrible memory. He was fully awake now with adrenaline pumping through his veins. If there was one thing worse than having Sakura reject him, it was that. Suddenly, he heard a small snicker that soon turned into a loud guffaw from the back of his mind.

"Ku...ra..ma!" Naruto thought, before plunging himself into his subconscious with a ball of blue spiralling chakra in his hand as he rushed at the laughing ninetails in his mind. Kurama knew he was going to be in a world of hurt but right now he didn't care. There were only five words in the bijuus mind, "IT WAS SO WORTH IT."

"I'll murder you you damn fox!" Naruto shouted as he rushed at the still vulnerable, rolling and uncontrollably laughing fox. Only to find himself restrain by a total of thirty six tails surrounding him.

"Let me go! I need to teach-no screw it, MURDER that stupid fox for planting such a horrible memory in my head!" Naruto yelled.

**"Did you like the way I modified Uchiha brat's eyes? Can't you just feel the love behind-"**

"You goddamn ero-yaoi FOX!" A wave of strong killer intent realeased from Naruto that caused the bijuus binding Naruto down to shuddered. Even Kurama was stunned at such killing intent. Him being dead was an understatement. Rather, if Naruto managed to get his hands on Kurama...well, let's just say things were going to get ugly-VERY UGLY.

**"Calm down Naruto," Saiken said. "You know Kurama is actually the true bijuu in here. If he dies, you die. We're all nothing more than remnants. Our real bodies are still out there in the world."**

**"As much as I enjoy seeing the fox get killed, I have to agree with the slug on this," Shukaku stated. **

**"Aye," Isobu added. "We're wasting time as it is."**

**"Yeah, don't you want to get a good mission before they're all taken?" Choumei asked. **

Sighing, Naruto dissipated the blue ball of chakra in his hand before glaring at Kurama one more time as the bijuus released their hold on him.

"This is NOT over. When I through with you, you'll be begging me to throw you back into your cage!" Naruto snarled. Kurama merely grinned.

"**Is that a challenge?" he asked before his face frowned darkly and he released a stream of his own killer intent at the boy.** Things were starting to get ugly.

**"That's enough out the two of you," Gyuki interupted. **The rest of the beasts were now in a battle stance, ready to interfere before things got out of hand. Reluctantly, Kurama and Naruto stepped away from each other. With one last look at the ninetails, the blonde disappeared from his mindscape.

**"Did you really have to go that far?" Matatabi asked. "You scared the poor child's mind!"**

**"Please, anything short of that wouldn't have got him out of bed. You should have seen all the other things I've tried before." **

In an instant, memories of Kurama's past attempts at waking the boy appeared as an image on front of the other bijuus. Things that went from shouting profanities at the boy for a continous hour [major sweatdrop from the rest of the bijuus-Kurama always did have such a colourful language] to having him face his worst fears that he locked up in the back of his mind...only to have the blonde continue sleeping peacefully. With regards to the latter, the blonde had simply took one look at his worst fears, stood up to face them [earning looks of approval from the bijuus] before realising that it was just a dream and then going back to sleep [major facepalm from the rest of the bijuus].

"**There truly is no end to this boy," Gyuki muttered. The rest of the bijuus nodded in agreement.**

_Back with our blonde kid_

It was almost nine o'clock, Naruto had just about finished breakfast and was just about ready to head out of his apartment when he realised one major thing...

"OH MY GOD! THE BIJUUS ARE BACK!" he screamed.

_Back in Naruto's subconscious_

Each and everyone of the Bijuus were facepalming themselves as well as having massive sweatdrops.

**"Tell me once again, how in the world did Naruto become the saviour?" Goku begged. This time however, there wasn't any answer. **

_Hokage's office, a few minutes later_.

"Ready guys?" Naruto whispered.

"**Ready," his bijuus answered.** On the way to the office, the bijuus had told Naruto that under no circumstances was Tsunade going to refuse him getting his clans' scrolls. Either she gave it to him willingly...or he took them by force. They were his by right and not being given to him the moment he had turned into a genin was just a slap to the face for Naruto. If there was one thing he hated, it was having the things that belong rightfully to him getting taken away, especially since he didn't have much to begin with. Grany was going to have to provide a suitable excuse for this because she had just lost a large amount of respect from the blonde kid from keeping his clans' screts from him.

He knocked on the door and there was a sharp reply, "C'mon in!"

Naruto entered to see a twenty year old blonde lady with a very shapely body and enourmously huge breast sitting behind a table full of paperwork. Next to her was a lady that looked about the same age but with brown hair and who was caring a pig. Both girls smiled at him as he came in to the office. Their smiles dropped however as the atmosphere suddenly got cold. Naruto wasn't smilling back and he had a rather hurt look on his face. Whatever this was, Tsunade hoped it had nothing to do with her. Likewise Shizune.

"Ba-chan," he acknowledged before giving a nod to Shizune. "Shizune-neechan."

"You look a bit put off, Naruto...is something the matter?" Tsunade asked.

"Can we talk alone Ba-chan? I believe you owe me an explanation..."Naruto said quietly. This was a surprising turn of events for Shizune, as the War had only ended four days ago and Naruto was supposed to be feeling happy. Yet here he was, feeling extremely upset with a hurt look on his face. She took a quick glance at Tsunade and realised she was fidgeting ever so slightly. Whatever was happening, she didn't like it one bit

Tsunade, on the other hand, was extremely nervous. She had known that Naruto had met up with his late father during the war, courtesy of Orochimaru's Impure World Ressurection. If what she was suspecting was true, then she was in one bit of a mess.

"Shizune...could you give us some space please?" Tsunade asked. Shizune took one look at Tsunade and then back at Naruto before locking her jaw into a firm frown and immediately shook her head.

"Whatever you did to Naruto-otouto, I want to know. I'm not letting my otuoto face this alone," she replied in a neutral tone. Naruto remain expressionless but deep down felt a spark of warmth from his Nee-chan. Though Shizune was not able to be there for her, she always stood up for him whenever she could and that was one of the few things that earned her Naruto's respect. Especially since she was willing to go against one of te legendary sannin for him.

Sighing in defeat, Tsunade called out, "Anbu!"

Four Anbu black ops immediately appeared from the shadows in front of her with masks covering their faces before bowing to their Hokage, awaiting orders.

"Leave us please." Immediately the four left the room and once the door was locked, Tsunade performed a hand seal to activate the barrier placed in the room.

"So what is it that you want to talk about Naruto?" Tsunade asked, although she already knew what he was going to asked about.

"How could you..." he whispered. Shizune, seeing the way his shoulders were shaking and the way tears were forming in his eyes, immediately rush up to embrace him in a loving hug. When she gazed back at Tsunade, there was a certain fire in her eyes that said,

"WHATEVER YOU DID TO MY LITTLE BROTHER, YOU BETTER HAVE A DAMN GOOD EXPLANATION FOR IT"

"What do you-" Tsunade began before being cut off by an anguish Naruto.

"How could you keep my clan's secret from me?! How could you hide away the truth that my mom left me information on my missing clan and my family?!" Naruto yelled. Tears were flowing freely now as he glared at Tsunade, hurt and betrayal evident in his blue eyes. "I thought I meant something to you...how could you...Ba-chan...?"

Whatever he was going to say was interupted by his loud sobbing as Shizune help his head on her shoulders while he wept away his anguish and sorrow. She was just as hurt as Naruto, if not more, by Tsunade's antics at keeping Naruto in the dark about his heritage. Cooing softly, she patted her little brother gently on his back while trying to soothe his uncontrollable shaking. Once he was done, she push up his head to flash him a small smile before turning to Tsunade. The look on Shizune's face made Tsunade immediately wary of her situation.

"I believe he...NO, WE demand an explanation Tsunade-sama." Shizune stated. She was very protective of Naruto and like any other caring older sister, would not hesitate to strike down anyone who came between her and her brother figure...even if it was her own master.

"Why is it always have the quiet ones?" Tsunade cursed mentally. No doubt, she could take on Shizune anyday in a fight one-on-one. However, getting on her assisstant's bad side was never a good idea. There was that one time where Shizune found her slacking off at the local casino and the next day she returned to find her entire secret stash of Sake totally gone, with a note saying,

"_THE HOKAGE IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE GAMBLING AWAY THE REVENUES EARNED BY THE VILLAGE, THOSE FUNDS ARE USED FOR THE WELLBEING OF THE VILLAGE AND DOING SO IS A DISGRACE TSUNADE-SAMA! AS PENANCE, I'M TAKING AWAY YOUR ALLOWANCE THIS WEEK FOR OUR ANUAL TRIP TO THE LAND OF THE HOT SPRINGS. YOU WON'T BE NEEDING IT SINCE IT'LL BE USING THEM TO CONVER UP THE NOTES YOU LOST IN THE CASINO YESTERDAY._

_P.S. I KNOW WHERE THE REST OF YOUR SAKE IS..."_

That was a horrible day for Tsunade as she had to battle her withdrawal symptoms. What worried her was how did Shizune even managed to find out about her secret stash?! She was the Hokage for God's sake! Whatever happened, the message was clear: DO NOT CROSS SHIZUNE IN ANY WAY.

Sighing in defeat, Tsunade lowered her head before answering, "I'm sorry for not telling you about your clan Naruto but from what you told me you already knew that uzushiogakure is no more."

"That doesn't explain why you chose to hide moms' scrolls from me!" he argued indignantly. Shizune nodded in agreement. Tsunade braced herself as what she was going to say next.

"I...tried to get them to you and I failed. I'm sorry." Tsunade said. "The council demanded that I kept quiet about this matter seeing as you had neither the talent not the ability to learn the Uzumaki's secret techniques. They argued that such arts from our allied village would only be wasted in ones' hands such as yourself. Of course, that was two years ago and things have changed since you defeated Madara and united the shinobi world. I'm sure that they would give them to you now."

**"She's LYING!" Kurama growled. "Or rather...there's something she's not telling us. Kit, provoke her."**

"You're the Hokag, Ba-Chan. I find that hard to believe since the entire civilian side is afraid of you," Naruto replied. "The only people who would dare opposed you are senile Koharu, grumpy Homura and mummified Danzo. But Danzo's dead and he was the one who held the most power against you. If what I just said is correct, the moment Danzo was killed, you would have told me of my mom's inheritance!"

An eerie silence hung as Naruto's words sank in.

"Damnit Ba-Chan I want the truth right now!" Naruto demanded angrily.

"Tsunade-sama..." Shizune muttered in a dark tone that left no room for argument. Cowed into a corner and wishing that this day would have never come, Tsunade slumped her shoulders as she thought of what she was going to say next. There was not point in choosing her words carefully now since the meaning behind them were going to be obvious anyway. She just hoped that what she was going to say next wasn't going to lose her any more points of respect and acknowledgement from both Shizune and Naruto.

"There was a law that prevented you from receiving your clans' scrolls until you were chuunin anyway," she started. "It was me who made that law..."

Another moment of silence before Naruto rushed angrily at Tsunade, only to be restrained by his Nee-chan. Desperately Naruto tried forcing his way out of Nee-chan's grip but all the while trying his best not to hurt her. For Shizune, the matter was totally different. She had locked her arms using her chakra and the only way to break free was to tear them apart...literally. Digusted though she was at this piece of news, she knew Tsunade had a very good reason for enforcing the law. And a new one that she installed herself at that.

"Stop it otouto!" Shizune gasped as she felt a sharp pain and heard a crack. Hearing her cry out in pain, Naruto stopped himself.

"Let go! You're hurting yourself!" he snapped. Shizune turned to face him and gave him a watery smile before shaking her head.

"I'm the only thing that's stopping you from killing Tsunade-sama right now," she answered. Then in a more serious tone, "If you're going to harm her otouto, you're going to have to go through me first!"

Reaching a stalemate, Naruto stopped suirming and glared angrily at Tsunade. Both her surbordinates were now awaiting her answer.

"Naruto...there's a reason why I didn't want you to read the scrolls your mother left you." Tsunade said. "I've personally read the one that Kushina addressed to you. The reason why I didn't want you to read them was Kushina wanted you to help rebuilt her clan back in Uzushiogakure. It was her lifelong dream to see her beloved village rebuilt and to be honest, it was what she was going to do once she had given birth to you. There are many scrolls left that details on her various mission reports on what she had managed to find out about her lost village members while not on duty. She had planned to reunite these members and help rebuilt the clan back to its former glory. Something that Minato shared with her. However, she wasn't able to do it because of her early death but she left the job...to you."

Another bout of hissing and gut wrecking killer intent was aimed at Tsunade as Naruto stuggled once more to free himself from Shizune's grip. Tsunade was playing a very dangerous game now. She only hoped that her next line would saved her and Shizune from Naruto's wrath.

"Give me one good reason why you didn't want me to inherit her job!" he snarled.

"I couldn't have you leave the village to help rebuilt the Whirlpool! You don't know how important you are to me or to the village! You're the only reason why I'm still Hokage, if you left...what's the point in staying in the Leaf for?!"

"MY CLAN NEEDS ME! YOU HAD NO RIGHT TO KEEP THAT INFORMATION FROM ME! SCREW THE CLAN SECRETS! WHAT IF MY GRANDPARENTS ARE STILL ALIVE?! WHAT IF I HAVE COUSINS?! YOU HAD NO RIGHT TO KEEP ME FROM MY FAMILY!"

"We're your family, otouto..." Shizune said warily, her arms still locked in position.

"You yes...but Ba-chan doesn't deserve to call me her family after what she's done," Naruto answered bluntly. A sharp stab of pain entered Tsunade's heart at Naruto's words. She turned away quickly but Shizune saw the hurt look on her face.

"You know his right, Tsunade-sama," Shizune stated. As much as hated to admit it, both of them were right.

"I'm sorry and I don't know if you;ll able to forgive me but I will make it up to you...somehow," Tsunade replied. Deactivating the barrier, she called out, "Anbu!"

Immediately the Anbus were present, ready for any requests.

"Get the council ready, it's important" The four Anbus noded before disappearing in a sushin, leaving the the three of them alone in the room once more.

"You can release me now, Shizune-neechan," Naruto started, only to received a tight hug and a small kiss on his cheek as Shizune released him.

"Promise me you won't cause any trouble, otouto," Shizune said in a serious tone. Naruto sighed. There was no way for him to argue against his neechan as far as he was concerned.

"I promise," he said, before turning away and headed straight to the door. "Call me when the meeting is ready. Neechan...Tsunade-sama"

With that, the door slammed with a bang but what caused both of them to flinched was the cold tone at which Naruto addressed Tsunade with.

"You have a lot to make up for Otouto, Tsunade-same," Shizune stated warily. Sighing Tsunade went back to her desk. She really needed a drink now.

"I know...and that's what makes it all the more worse."

CHAPTER END

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><p>Please leave your reviews guys! It really helps me out!<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO.**

**Author's note: With regards to my readers, I'm sorry to say that this isn't an uzushio fic since there are quite a few of them out there. I was originally going to make one but there have been too many fic involving uzushio, all revolving around the same plotline. As an author, I feel a sense of duty to try to make my fics as original as possible. That said however, I am very impressed with one of the fic titled Naruto: Heir of the whirlpool Lord Rahl Master of D'Hara. I was originally going to make a fic similar to this but then scrapped it due to it being too similar and according to my own sense, a bit plagiarising. I would love to do a fic on Uzushio one day, however until I either come up with an original idea regarding how I planned to write it or until I get permission from Lord Rahl Master of D'Hara to use his idea, I will refrain from doing so.**

**On a side note: Thanks so much for the comments guys and hope you look forward to this chapter! Also, still waiting for those names guys; Can't continue the story without some japanese guy/girl names...  
><strong>

**[Readers: When will Hina APPEAR GODMANNIT?! She's my favourite character!**

** Me: Soon-patience is a virtue. Wait...favourite character you say? Well...wouldn't it be tragic if I were to do 'something horrible' to her?**

**Readers (WAILING): YOU WOULDN'T! NO!]**

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><p><strong>Chapter 3: The Council and The Noble <strong>

It had been an hour since the encounter between Naruto, Shizune and Tsunade. Right at this very moment, our blonde hero was at his very favourite eatery, devouring bowl after bowl of delicious soupy ramen.

**"**Slow down otouto!" Ayame scolded. "You'll going to hurt yourself if you continue at this pace."

Naruto flashed her a foxy grin before slurping the rest of the ramen down, soup and all. Once done, he rubbed his belly contendtly and began ordering another one from Teuchi.

**"**Another miso old man!" he called out ethusiatically. A slight mark appeared on the man's head before he turned around sharply to rap Naruto's head with his soup laddle, only for Naruto to stop with a slick flick of his wrist.

"Who you calling old, gaki?!" he answered. Now it was Naruto's turn to looked annoyed.

"Heh, you're ten years too OLD to catch me OLD man," he challenged. Sparks flew from Teuchi eyes at Naruto's jab. Well, if this was the way the gaki was going to play it, then he would have to use his secret weapon.

"You better take that back or else...you'll face my ultimate jutsu that can KO everyone in this village!" Teuchi said. Naruto grinned in response.

"Hah! I'm not afraid of you! Bring it!" he answered confidently. Ayame decided enough was enough and was going to stop their bickering when she saw her father giving her a small smirk and a slow tilt of his head. She halted immediately. Her father only ever did this one other time before with a customer who refused to pay up his debt, whatever Naruto did, Teuchi must have decided that Naruto needed a good humbling lesson to put him in his place. Hesitant though she was, she refrained herself from stopping her father.

Well, well well. Looks like the brat's ego gone up a bit too high for my liking, Teuchi thought. Deep down he was actually very fond of the boy but he knew arrogance was one of the few things a ninja must be extremely wary of. Naruto clearly seemed to have forgotten that and it would be a very harsh mistake which he would regret if Teuchi didn't manage to stop him now. Countless time had he seen many ninja fall prey to their arrogance just because they were too proud of their abilities and not being able to see or accept their own faults. Well, he wasn't going to let this happen to Naruto.

"All right Gaki, you have been warned," he said in a solemn voice. Putting his hand into his side pocket, he brought up a folded piece of paper. Ayame's eyebrows rose slightly at his antics and widened even further as she realised what her father just pulled out. Surely he wouldn't?! Not to their best customer! Unfolding the paper, he now turned to the frowning Naruto and spoke in a dark tone [with lightning crackling over his back]

"Uzumaki Naruto. By the powers invested in me [by Teuchi himself], for your defiance and rude behaviour upon me, the head chef and owner of Ichiaku Ramen, I hereby banish you and forbid you entry ever again onto my ramen eatery for the rest of your life!" he thundered. "Now leave my humble establishment. AND. NEVER. COME. BACK."

"NO! YOU CAN'T DO THAT!" Naruto wailed loudly. Screw being hated by the villages for sixteen years. Being banished from ichiraku's ramen meant being castrated in Naruto's eyes! Now only if he knew what castrated was...but I digress. The blonde was pumping his arms wildly now, trying to figure a way out of his banishment.

"I warned you about my ultimate jutsu," Teuchi said gravely. "You are the first person ever to face my **Ninpo: Banish forever from the humble ramen stall**art. I hope you're happy, this ban is permanent."

KURAMA! Naruto thought, immediately finding himself in his subconscious. What he found though left him even more tick-off; Each of the bijuus were on the floor...laughing their heads off and crying tears of joy at his demise.

**"Haha, that was the best laugh I've ever had in my entire life!" Shukaku stated.**

"**To think that you be one-uped by the old man," Matatabi giggled. **

"**Aye, he got you** **good," Isobu agreed. **

"**This man is a genius! I wouldn't mind inducting him as my subordinate," Goku said.**

**"Hm..hmph..." Kokuo was trying his best to stiffle his giggle.**

"**You've just made a very powerful enemy Naruto-kun**," **Saiken mummbled**.

**"The old man gots some tricks up his sleeve. If only we thought about that," Choumei commented.**

**"So the great hero gets showed up by a humble Ramen chef? what is this world coming to..."Gyuki sighed. At that everyone immediately sweatdropped. **

**"Way to ruin the fun, Killjoy," Kurama said. **

"Guys, this is no laughing matter! We've got to think of a way to reverse that ban! I can't live without ramen!" At that the beast look at one another before turning back to the pitiful figure in front of them.

**"NO," they replied simultaneously before kicking him out of his subconscious. "You're own your own kid."**

"I'll do anything!" Naruto whimpered. Crouching down, Naruto prostated himself into the bowing position and placed his head onto his hands. "Please forive me Teuchi-sama. Please! I'm sorry for being arrogant. I'm sorry for not paying you my bills on time and I'm sorry for trying to set up sensei on a date with Ayame Nee-chan!"

Ayame gave a tiny gasp of surprise before turning to face her father looking darkly at her.

"We'll talk about this later..." he threatened. Now it was Ayame's turn to sweat bullets. She knew trying to get Naruto to help her hook up with his jounin sensei was going to come back and bite her in the back one of these days.

"I'm sorry Naruto but the ban is permanent." Teuchi reminded Naruto. "As I've said, you were the one who arrogantly decided to take up the challenge. If on a battlefield, you decided to fight an opponent that you were not ready for but still rushed in head first, you would have paid with your life. Be grateful that this is only [yeah right...] a permanent ban from my humble establishment. I'm sure they are other eateries-"

"NO! The only food I love is your ramen stand!" Naruto continued begging. Tears were running down his eyes now and he was rapidly kowtowing on the floor. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I'll never show disrepect to you ever again!"

"Dad, I think he's had enough..." Ayame said. She didn't like the way her little otouto was begging. And neither did Teuchi.

"C'mon kid, show a little dignity!" Teuchi muttered. At that Naruto wailed even louder, earning a lot of curious glances from passerbys. Hoping to avoid a mess of things, Teuchi did the only thing that he could. "All right, all right, I'll give you another chance but remember you must never ever show such blatant arrogance to me ever again. Got it?"

His frown immediately turned into a smile at the master chef's words. With that, he wipe away his tears and went back to slurping his miso ramen. Both store owners could only sigh at his antics. Truly, how low had the shinobi world come to? To have one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful ninja, grovel at their feet by a simple ban? Just as he was finish, an anbu with a fish mask appeared next to him.

"Naruto-sama, the council requests your presence."

"Hai" and before the anbu could say anything else, he vanished on the spot. Just as the anbu was about to get up and report, he heard a slight cough frm behind him.

"And who pray tell is going to PAY for all of this?!" Teuchi demanded. The anbu looked at the pile of bowls in front of him behind flying though a quick set of hand seals.

"NOT me." he said before disappearing in a flash of smoke.

"I should have kept the ban..." Teuchi muttered. "And where do you think you're going little lady?!"

And before poor Ayame could even make a small 'eep!', she found herself being dragged by her father to the back of their stall to listen to another one of his 'lectures'.

_At the council_

"Yo Nee-Chan, what's up? Tsunade-sama..." Naruto said as he entered the council room with all the clan leaders and the civilian members looking down at him. This was going to be a _long _day if his past experience with the council was correct.

Naruto never liked the council, and neither did the council liked him. They've always had a bit of an antagonistic behaviour...well from the civilian side anyway. The clan heads were indifferent so far as they were concerned. Although the members were now treating him much more differently before, especially after his exploits during the war. The clan heads now held him in high regard while the civilian council view him with a grudging respect; a respect that he had earned...although a few of them were staring at him with cautious eyes. The same thought was running through everyone's head the moment; why in the world would Naruto, being as powerful as he was, demand something from the council when he could just take or demand whatever he wanted from them by force?

"Ah Naruto, you finally came, please take a seat in front of the council please," Tsunade addressed him. Naruto immediately took his seat and began glaring down at the council members with a fierce stare. Immediately the room was filled with a tense and chilling atmosphere.

"Let me get one thing straight," Naruto said venemously. "I don't like any of you, shinobi or civilian members. And you don't like me, so let's cut straight to the chase. No pleasantries and no fake praises, you got that?" Immediately, there was a burst of dense killer intent from Naruto at the council members. Many from the shinobi side of the council started frowning while the civilian members had angry looks on their faces; how dare this _boy_ treat them with such contempt!

"You will address us with the appropriate respect _boy_," one of the civilian members roared. Only to be answered with a blood curdling growl from Naruto using Kurama's voice.

"**Watch what you say OLD MAN, I'm no longer that little boy that you can easily manipulate two years ago! Jiraiya made sure of that," Naruto growled. "The same goes for you clan heads. If one person in this room falls, the rest of you do too. Got it?!" **

One of the more foolish civilian members was just about to argue back until h felt a very uncomfortable prickling sensation on his right. Turning in said direction, he found himself facing numerous deadly glares from the shinobi side of the council. If he was going to throw his life away; fine. But bring the rest of them down? That was a totall different matter altogether. Doing the wise thing, he shut his mouth up before he could even utter a single sentence.

You may ask why Naruto showed such unbiased anger at both the civilian and shinobi members. Foe the civilian side, well, they've never tried anything rash or downright horrible to Naruto's life [unlike other fics which involve them BEATING THE HECK OUT OF NARUTO-*shudder*] but they've only ever saw him as a tool to the village. A tool that they hated yes, that much was certain but a tool nonetheless. Hence, they were always going about ways to bend him to their will. Many were of the opinion that it was the civilian members that made Naruto's life hell in Konoha. But they couldn't be more wrong and he knew better. The council would never let anyone, shinobi or civilian, harm a single hair on his head. Heck, they wouldn't even let a person so much as glance him in the wrong way if they were around but he knew the true reason behind that. They didn't care about him, they just needed a way to make sure that their 'weapon' stay as perfect and as ready for their disposal as possible. When trying to manipulate him failed, courtesy of Jiraiya teaching him politics in preparation for the council, the civilian members had tried to enforce their will upon him using the power bestowed upon them by the Shodaime Hokage. This always ended miserably as the shinobi side would always counter their argument and as far as the village politics were concerned, the shinobi side always had the final say in things. You think that after many years, they would have learnt their lesson but power corrurpts those who do not know how to wield it, only those who didn't want power but were forced by necessity to wield them were able to control it properly. A good example being the past hokages.

Now as for why Naruto showed unchained anger towards the shinobi side, the reason was simple. While they've always looked out for him from being attacked by the civilian members, they never went further than that. For all intent and purposes, the shinobi clans kept to themselves as much as possible. There were too many responsibilities for the individual clans, from missions to economics that they had to observed and maintain. What was the life of a single orphan compared to that of an entire clan? It was a cruel testament but an honest at that. While many clan members had treated Naruto with great respect and indifference for his jinchuriki status, it as the never the clan or the individual members that Naruto hated but rather the heads. They were only interested in him so far as their position were concerned. This was not entirely true and some clan heads resented and felt hurt at the way Naruto treated them as such but they were shinobi and for shinobi; if it meant that someone would be happy if they had someone to place their anger at, then it was a burden that they gladly shoulder. Naruto himself was very familiar with this but was unaware of what the clan heads felt for that matter.

In terms of politics, for the shinobi members concerned, it was about maintaining the balance of the council as well as their own clan's custom. The reason why none of them ever bothered to adopt Naruto into their clan was just that; tradition. Clan law states that no orphan were ever allowed to be adopted into the clans. The prime reason being that clan secrets and jutsus were only reserved for clan members. What of those outside who married into the clan? Well, they were allowed into clan meetings and such but secrets and jutsus were still only ever reserved for members with true clan blood in them. Adoption was not practiced because of a simple reason; spies. Back before the days of the hidden villages, clans would send young children of their own to act as ways to infiltrate and steal information. Many clans fell victims to this until it had become an iron-clan law that none would ever be taken in, regardless of their age or how desperate a child was at the moment when they were found. The unspoken rule extended even today, despite the fact that there was no way Naruto could ever be a spy. However, history between clans were too bloody and memories ran too far deep, so the law stood rigid.

BUT I DIGRESS. Back to the meeting;

Tsunade seeing how bad the situation was turning immediately sought out a way to change the direction the conversation was heading.

"ENOUGH!" she shouted, slaming her palm on the Hokage table. "While we are in this meeting, you will show me the respect I derseve as Hokage! That means all of you, both shinobi and civilians. Even you Naruto. Are we clear?!"

There was a slight mumbling in the crowd until Tsunade destroyed the table in a single punch earning a deadly silence from both sides of the council and, to her credit, even the yound blonde looked scared at her tactic.

"I said ARE. WE. CLEAR." she spat. Taking the silence as confirmation, she pressed on before anymore other interruptions could be made. "We are gather today to review the issue of the Uzumaki clan scrolls that their last remaining member, Uzumaki Naruto, has demanded based on his rights as clan heir."

Immediately there was an uproar from both the civilian and shinobi side.

"The scrolls are sacred and should not be given only to a boy!" one civilian member stated.

"I agree. Though he is heir, those scrolls contain far too much power for a young man of sixteen to handle!" the head of the Kurama clan said.

"This is an outrage! Yondaime-sama himself stated that no one should be given the scrolls. Not even his son," the Sarutobi clan head added. "Not until he is ready!"

"Beside, none of the scrolls would open for any of the other shinobis that we trie-" a civilian member stated only to be silenced by a channel of killer intent at his words.

"**YOU TRIED GIVING MY SCROLLS TO ONE WHO WAS NOT OF MY CLAN?!" Naruto snarled. **The clan heads were shocked at this. Stunned by this turn of events, they were now beginning to rally on Naruto's side. The reason they never revealed the fact of the Uzumaki clan was because of the law that Tsunade made as well as Yondaime's wish for his son to not receive them until he was deemed ready. Giving away clan secrets however, was beyond crossing the line. To the clan heads, this was treason in their eyes and tradition only ever had one punishment for those who shared secrets outside the clan; death.

"You were not ready for them anyway!" the samer council member argued. "And I don't think Yondaime would mind if his student would be the one who inherited the clan's techniques."

"They were not his to give," Hiashi Hyuuga countered angrily. "If you recalled correctly, Minato was from a civilian family. A talented ninja but still one who had no clan ties. Doing something as treacherous as this is similar to giving Kumo the Byakugan on a silver platter! I'll be having a few words with YOU later..."

The man paled at the look Hiashi was giving him. There was a reason why the Hyuuga clan was the most powerful and most respected clan, well ever since the demise of both the Senju and the Uchiha. Going against a clan head was never a good idea, but going against the Hyuuga, let alone the Hyuuga head was suicidal. At the very least, he would be losing his position as council member today.

"I seemed to recall his wife teaching him the clan's secret," another member debated. "If Minato was allowed to learn the clan's technique, why shouldn't others not of the clan be denied that right? Afterall, the clan is all but extinct."

"What Kushina did was well within her rights as an acting clan member," Inoichi Yamanaka said. "What happens within other clans or between their members and outsiders does not concern us or the general populace. However, making that decision when you are not a member is going against every code the Shodaime made!"

"If my clan members heard this, they would no doubt be requesting a grant from the fire lord to move out of this village for the lack of trust place between civilian and clan members!" Choza Akimichi thundered. Several clan heads noded at his reasoning and many civilian members paled at this revelation. It was true though, should the code of conduct between clans be broken, not by a clan member but by a civilian of their own village, the law gave full right for the clan to pack up and leave the village. It was a law passed down by the Nidaime Hokage when shinobi with civilian background started demanding secrets from clan members. Civil war would have started had it not be Tobirama who quenched the fire before it began. Of course, he had the power of the Senju on his side to back him up back then. Still the fire lord realised the importance of maintaining the secrecy of the clans and this was one of their scared privileges upheld until today. Now, however, that code conduct had been broken and it was broken without the consent of the shinobi side.

"Hokage-sama, you must say something. You yourself was involved with this!" a council member argued. This earned looks of disgust and shock from the shinobi side.

"Hold your tongue! I had no say in this until I found the seal on the Uzumaki safe broken and violated," Tsunade argued.

"If it wasn't you, then pray tell who it was that did it," said the Shimura clan head smugly. Tsunade's lips twitched slightly at the smug tone of the clan head. She never liked this particular council member who was always trying to get her to do underhanded things for the sake of the village. Then again the members of the shimura clans were always willing to do things to the extreme.

"If you must know, it was a high ranking member of your clan, who used to be in the elder council but isn't here now." she replied sweetly. The man eyes shot up before turning into a frown.

"You lie! Danzo would never-" he started only to be interupted by Tsunade.

"Well, what if I brought Kakashi in here himself? I'm sure the man who was tasked to master the Uzumaki's secrets would be able to give you full details of the event the day I found out what your damn member did!"

The man paled further upon this. He was just about to argue further when a loud shout stop him and everyone else in the room.

"**ENOUGH YOU BLUNDERING FOOLS!" Kurama roared through Naruto. "WE ARE HERE TO DISCUSS THE ISSUE OF THE UZUMAKI CLAN SCROLLS. NOW WHILE I EXPECT THE HOKAGE TO DEAL WITH SAID TREACHERY OR HAVE ME REPORT TO THE FIRE LORD HIMSELF, **[this earned looks of despair and dread from the civilian members] **WHAT THE HOKAGE DECIDES BETTER BE PUNISHMENT ENOUGH OR WOULD YOU PREFER THE HERO OF THE FOURTH WORLD WAR INFLICT PUNISHMENT UPON YOU?"**

Thanks Kurama, Naruto though. He was never able to get a word in when matters reached a climax such as this.

"The council members apologise sincerly to you Uzumaki-san but we are under protection that the Shodaime made," a female council member stated. "You must understand that we did what was right at the moment. Still, regardless of our actions, our intents were pure and you cannot punish us for what we think was the right decision."

"You will be punish or do I have to take matters into my own hands?!" Naruto growled.

"You and what army?" The councilwoman argued back. "In case you haven't notice we hold power in this village, of which you are one of our subordinates."

"Oh really?" Naruto mocked. "What if I wasn't one of your members then?'

There was absolute silence as the words sank in.

"You can't do that!" Koharu argued. "You are a shinobi of Konoha! You can't just decide to leave!"

"Troublesome," Shikaku Nara stated. "You know as well as the rest of us that a shinobi is allowed to leave actuve duty to persue a civilian life if he so chooses."

"That law does not extend to the Kyuubi Jinchuriki!" Homura argued back.

"And who's going to stop me?" Naruto taunted. At this several members took a glance at each other before at the blonde boy. "You all know you don't stand a ghost of a chance against me...even if it is 5000 to one."

"Besides, killing me or my leaving would be the least of your troubles," Naruto continued. "Sure you might have a few-no scratch that, a LOT of casulaties. But what would happened if say...the other countries found out what you did to me?"

Every council member was sweating profusely right now. It was no secret how much Naruto was looked up to in Wave country. The daimyos of the lands of spring, vegetables and birds were also extremely fond of him as well. Prince Temujin from the west would take no hesitation in exacting his revenge on those who dared harm the one who helped free his people. The crecent moon kingdom might not have much military authority but held huge economic power over the land of fire and it would be disastrous if the fire lord found of the reason why his country was in a depression as a result of a termination of their trade alliance with the kingdom. Priestest Shion would only further aggravate the situation if she found out her beloved/love interest was harmed in any way. The newly rebuilt land of sky would no doubt send an emisssary for a declaration of war, seeing as their leader, Amaru was very protective over the boy who gave her a new reason to live for.

All that political, economical and military damage...and that was discounting the rest of the five major villages as well as the five major lords. Gaara would immediately tear down the leaf village if he found his best friend/twin-brother figure in any trouble. He had proven this during the war and the Kazekage would not hesitate to kill anyone who dares harm the blonde. Mei, the fifth Mizukage herself had a tiny crush after he saved her that one time during the war. A unspoken oath was now between the two of them; harm one and you harm the other. Messing with the kage who crush the civil war in Kirikagure, as well as tirelessly worked to reunite the bloodline clans was not the best job decision for anyone. Nor was it the best decision healthwise considering the fact that she had two kekei gankai that she could use to torture you for her own fun. A himself looked up to Naruto ever since he saved his brother, B, life by re-sealing the eight-tales into his jinchuriki. Then again, it wasn't that hard considering the fact that the eight tales begged him to save his jinchuriki's life. Seeing as Naruto had no skill whatsoever in sealing, it had been up to Kurama, who had to rely on Minato's imparted knowledge, to reseal the eight tails into B. B himself was extremely grateful to his fellow jinchuriki and like Gaara, was very protective of him. All in all, the only village that didn't seem to care for his well-being was Iwakagure but that was natural since Konoha's Kiroi Senko still had the blood of many from the village. Still what was one village when compared to four? Plus, do I need to mention the revolt from the ninja forces and the civilians a having the hero who defeated pein hurt or banished [even if it was self-proclaimed]?

"W-what do you want from us, Uzumaki-sama?" another council member said. Looks of defeat were strewn across the rest of council members. Even Shizune and Tsunade had wary looks. Naruto had gone being a mere pawn in this game of power. He had transcended beyond that and was so much more. Still, he didn't like having this much power but wouldn;t hesitate to use it if it meant it would avoid bloodshed.

"Now, what I ask is simple; my clan scrolls are to be given to me." A nod from everyone was evident. The matter was settled either way. Either give it to him or face severe consequences.

"But no one could open them Uzumaki-sama! Not even your sensei!"

"I will deal with that." he said darkly. "Next order of business, I want a solo S-rank mission to get away and reanalyse my thoughts on my view of this accursed council."

Again, nods could be seen from everyone but there was always a fool among the council and he made no hesitation to voice his objection.

"You're just a genin! Doing so will make other nations mock our-" but before he could finish his sentence, he was interupted by the blond's outburst.

"And who do you think kept me genin?" Another eerie silence. The meaning behind the sentence was clear but he still voiced his suspicions anyway.

"Hokage-sama made that law to keep my inheritance and my clan scrolls from me. At least until I turned Chuunin. I was more than ready to be a Chuunin when I came back from my training trip. Now...answer me this-why wasn't I given the rank? Or better yet, let me answer it for you. You never intended to get me promoted to keep my inheritance and clans secret from me!"

**"Hey! I was the one who told you that!" Kurama objected. **

Not now, Kyuubi. Naruto thought. Kurama remained silent at that. Use of that term meant Naruto was very angry at the moment and it was never wise to cross an angry Naruto.

"How long were you going to keep this secret from me, I wonder?" he asked aloud. "It doesn't matter, I don't want to hear it coming from you scheming politicians. I'll ask one last time...do I get my mission?" All around the room, there were nods from everone.

"Good and one final request," Naruto added. Everyone seemed to relax at this. They had been expecting worse. "I want all those involved in the scheme punished."

Immediately there was an outburst from every council member as they tried to reason with the boy. Before Tsunade could call for order, everyone felt that horrible sense of killer intent once more.

"That was a demand. It was an order." Naruto growled. "Now I wouldn't mind killing each and everyone of you here since I am in my right to do so. But enough blood has been spilled during the war. I'll leave Hokage-sama to deal with those who scheme against me. Those who were innocent have no fear for anything. DOn't even think you could hide from me however, I know who were the ones that were involved. Also, if the Hokage's punishment isn't enough by the time I come back...well, let's just say you wouldn't like my idea of retribution. So you better wish for the most humiliating punishment possible because you don't want what I have in store for you."

With that said, he turned to Tsunade. "I'll be in the Hokage tower, Tsunade-sama. I can't stand being in this room anymore."

Tsunade gave a curt nod before seeing him disappear in a flash of smoke. Rubbing her temples slowly, she turned to face the council members. This was where her real battle begins.

"Right, let's start talking about your punishments," she said sagely.

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><p>Chapter end!<p>

Don't forget to review guys and don't forget to suggest some Japanese names!


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO.**

**Author's Note: Good news for all my readers, expect more chapter flooding for the next few days! Yay for new chapters! Now for some less good news; this is a drama fanfic and might not have as much fight scenes as other fic but I planned to change that SEVERELY. So expect more adventure and fight scene. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get any names :( so instead I'll be using other sources for ideas. **

**On a side note: This is the chapter where things finally start getting interesting. Now that all that politics and loose ends have been tied up, I can finally start getting to the juicy adventure/romance/drama scenes! Thanks so much for the reviews guys! And remember I still need help for character names!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 4: Meeting the client<strong>

**"How are you feeling Naruto-kun?" Kokuo asked. The other beasts were gathered about the young blonde in his mindscape. **

"I'm fine..." he replied, trying to sort out his emotions. Things hadn't gone the way he planned at the meeting but then again, there rarely ever did in real life.

**"Hmph, well I thought the council earned what they deserved," Goku stated. Though he didn't like to show it, he cared very much for the young boy in front of him, especially since he was the first human apart from the Rikudou Sennin to show the Tailed Beasts respect and equality.**

**"Although the council will try even harder to keep you on a tighter least now than ever," Isobu said, worrying for the safety of his jinchuriki.**

**"Pfft! Please, those old farts don't stand a chance against Naruto!" Kurama snorted. "Besides...do I remind you that as each of you, tailed beasts left a tiny remnant of yourselves here, your directly linked to him one way or another?" **

**"What's your point Fox?" Shukaku spat.**

**"My point is this," elaborated Kurama. "If something were to happen to Naruto, your true selves would know immediately, seeing as you are telephatically linked with the boy's mind. Now...what would seven gigantic constructs of chakra do if they found that their foster son and successor were harmed in any way by his UNGRATEFUL village?"**

Silence.

**"Exactly, although those damn council members don't know it. Pfft, you know if you wanted Naruto, you could call us over and we would do your bidding without any questions." Kurama pointed out. **

"And destroy the very place my predecessors helped built? I've got four words for you Kurama. That's not happening."

Once more the bijuus marveled at the teens reaction. To have gone through so much and yet still be able to put others before himself was no small trait. Still, it made them all the more tempted to tear down the council for what they did to their beloved foster son. However, if Naruto forbade it, then it was a taboo in their book. They held him only second to their father figure, the Rikudou Sennin.

**"Can't we rough them up a bit?" Choumei joked. "You know, forced them to hand over the national treasury or something?"**

"No," Naruto answered in a flat tone that left no room argument. "And forgive me but I think Ba-chan is coming back from her meeting with the council now."

With that the blonde exited his mindscape, leaving the rest of the bijuus to broode over their thoughts. Young Naruto had certainly came a long way from his first years as a genin. While still possessing that indomitable will, passion and drive that he always had, he was now just as wise, mature and powerful as their father figure. What separated him from the Rikudou Sennin though was that he was unwilling to make hard decisions because he was being forced to. Rather he would always find a different approach to solving a difficult problem. While his approach was fairly unorthodox and even frowned upon by the bijuus themselves, he never turned away from them and those always lead to excellent results. It certainly helped that he had managed to develop an extremely cunning, tactical and resourceful way of thinking over his years of hardship. A trait that somewhat progressed from his years of being a master prankster. What made him all the more endearing to Bijuu however was that he was still the same old selfless, kind-hearted and unrelenting youth that they had met during the war. That plus the fact that he was still prone to emotions and remarks from other people made the bijuus very protective of him. Had the bijuus been awake during Sakura's blatant outburst at thier pseudo-jinchuriki, she would have to come up with a very good excuse to placate seven angry beasts before the week was over...and that was only if they gave her a chance to answer. The bijuus were not known for their diplomatic qualities. Their's was a simple reasoning; kill now ask questions later. Higher up on that reasoning was kill anyone who dares inflict physical harm on them. And highest of all; kill anyone who dares harm Naruto Uzumaki, no questions asked.

BUT I DIGRESS. Back at the Hokage's office...

Our blonde hero turned around to look as a tired Tsunade and Shizune entered the room before flopping themselves down on the seats available. Tsunade was just upon to reached over and uncorked a hidden bottle of sake in her table when she caught the questioning look on Shizune's face. Controlling herself, she forced her hand away from the hidden drawer to the second one to pull out her set of mission drafts for the hidden leaf.

"I take it the meeting didn't go so well did i, Shizune-neechan?" Naruto asked casually.

Sighing, Shizune rubbed her neck slowly before flashing Naruto a small smile. "Not exactly but you'll be happy to know that all the civilian members have been stripped of their rank. As for the clan heads..."

Naruto raised his eyes slightly as she trailed off. Truth be told, he was actually lying when he said that he had an awful punishment for the civilian council if Tsunade was not going to punish them. He didn't care what happened to the council as long as the message got across that he was NOT TO BE USED for anyone or anything, even if it was for the well being of the village. Tsunade herself found that out herself the hard way.

"What happened to the clan heads?" he asked in a neutral tone. Tsunade sighed once more before rubbing her temples, grimacing as she did so.

"They were so ashamed at their antics against you as well as falling for the ploy of the civilian council that each of the clan heads swore loyalty to the Uzumaki clan." Tsunade answered.

Well this was certainly news. Naruto wasn't very well-versed in clan politics but the bijuus were. Laws laid down by clan heads ever since the birth of chakra and shinobi rarely changed torughout the flow time. Right now, it would seem Naruto held power that rivaled that of even the hokage. This was simple; it the olden days, to avoid the decimation of their entire clan, the weaker or smaller clan would swear fealty towards more powerful clans that subjugated them. As result, the clan was left alive despite having to answer to someone else. There were also clans who surrender their loyalty to others if any one of their members did something that dishonour the name of the clan. However, throughout history, never had there ever been a bigger or more powerful clan swear their loyalty to an weaker one, even if their honor was tarnish. Honor was important but survival still came first. This was what got the bijuu interested in the proceedings. To swear loyalty from not one clan but from all the clan heads was one thing...but for them to swear it to a non-existing one? Something wasn't right...

"There's more to this isn't there?" Naruto asked.

**"**Key words Naruto, they "swore loyalty to your clan" not to you," Tsunade reminded him. Almost at once, the links begin forming in his head.

"And seeing as I'm still clan-less, I hold no power over them in any sort of way," Naruto retorted angrily.

"It's not like that otouto," Shizune explained. "They wanted to swear loyalty to just you but the elders forbade it, reminding them that the power struggle within the village must be at a balance. Especially considering the fact that you could already more than destroy this village figuratively without even lifting a finger to do it."

"So a compromise was reached...to delay the inevitable," Tsunade continued. "Unless you somehow manage to rebuilt your clan, you hold no actual power within the council or its judgement."

"When will the advisers learn that I don't care about the power struggle that happens in this village!" Naruto exclaimed. "Still...it was a good move on their part. I can't consider myself a clan head until I find at least four more other members of my clan..."

"That or you start having a family," Tsunade finished. "But enough of this idle chatter. We all know that's not why you're here. Besides, even if they won't say it, the clan heads will certainly agree with you on most issues now."

Tsunade didn't want to say this in front of Naruto but he had managed to gain power without even trying. The civilian members were stripped of their rank and were going to be replaced, and the clan heads were now answering only to him, despite the fact that he wasn't a clan head himself yet. The only people that were against him were the two elders and given the odds, even they were fighting a losing battle against Naruto. It was no secret who everyone was considering the next Hokage would be and the elders were powerless to do anything against it.

"Anyway, we're here to discuss your requested solo mission," Tsunade said before pulling a folder from the surrounding paperwork on her desk. Looking through it, she gestured for Shizune to come over and take the file from her. Shizune did so and upon reading the mission file, her eyes widen.

"You can't be serious Tsunade-sama!" she protested. "While there is no doubt otouto would be able to take on anyone, even he can't do this mission on his own!"

"Mind telling me what exactly my mission is Nee-chan?" Naruto asked, a hand stretched out to receive the file. As if her lifeline, Shizune backed away slowly from Naruto, clentching it even tighter to her chest.

"Tsunade-sama I must protest! Otouto is definitely not ready for this!"

Tsunade turned to give her a sharp look before turning to Naruto. "Well, seeing as you..._nee-chan_, doesn't want to inform you of your mission, I will."

As if on que, Shizune was just about to argue when she felt a slight killing intent from her shishou. Realising that there was no way out of this situation, she retreated slowly to a corner. "As I was saying, this mission isn't your normal 'S'-ranked mission. Tell me, Naruto, what do 'S' ranked missions have in common?"

"They usually involve interogation, espionage, assasination and basically intel gathering that are extreme benificial to the village. In essence, they represent the pinacle of a shinobi's duties. Especially since missions such as these have a very low chance of succeeding."

"I trust you know why missions such as these have a very low rate?"

"It's because in order to prevent enemies from getting any intel from our own ninja, the number of ninja's sent out are usually very low and are usually solo-ranked missions. This also lowers the threat of being found. That plus, missions such as these are long-termed and there are usually no form of communication between village and said shinobi in order to prevent suspicion."

"Exactly. Missions such as these are only reserved to elite anbu members, extremely talented jounins and at the very least anbu captains. You are in no way, fit for an S-ranked mission despite your achivements since you have yet to learn the finer arts of tracking, stealth, espionage and backhanded tactics. In fact...the only reason why you applied for one is so you could get out of the village to think." Tsunade explained.

At that, Naruto turned away from facing the Hokage. In his anger he had forgot to take into account the mission parameters as well as the requirements needed for said mission. There was a reason why the anbu existed and while he loathed to admit it, he knew he was definitely not prepared for one.

"But...this mission is different." Tsunade elaborated. At that, Naruto's head snapped back quickly as he eyed Tsunade curiously. "In essence, this was actually a A-ranked mission that soon turned to an S-ranked one."

"How so?" Naruto asked, his interest totally piqued.

"It says here otouto, that should you choose to accept this mission, you would have to escort a noble who came from the Moonlight Kingdom back to their home," Shizune said. "Normally, this would be classified as a B-ranked at the least and A-ranked at most but certain circumstance prevent that. Those cicumstances being that there have been many S-ranked missions issued out by other nations in order to kill the Moonlight Kingdom's noble. Numerous attempts to cross Fire country have failed with many of our jounin members being killed before having the mission aborted and our client escorted back to Konoha. According to the report, there'll be setting off again in a week's time with or without our help."

"This person must be extremely important if there's a bounty on thier heads," Naruto pointed out. "What's makes this person's head so desired?"

"The Moonlight Kingdom is a very powerful nation. Although, the monarchy is facing severe problems now. The current king, King Sho, is in his fifties and has long decided to abdicate to his only son and successor, Prince Akihiko. Unfortunately, being the only child and future successor, Prince Akihiko has had his own troubles, having had to face various opponents who threaten the well being of his country. Despite this, he, himself is an incredibly powerful samurainin whose power rivals that of all five kages. That and the fact that he managed to assume command of the entire military of the Moonlight Kingdom at the very age of fifteen."

"If he's so powerful, why didn't the Moonlight Kingdom took part in the fourth war?" Naruto asked.

"There have been many...discrepancies between the Moonlight Kingdom and the five nations. To quote his words, Prince Akihiko has stated that the five nations can burn for all his cares as a result of them taking part in a certain incident involving his family that even I, as Hokage, do not know." Tsunade explained. "That and the fact that nothing much is known about the Moonlight Kingdom makes them extremely dangerous. There were rumours that even Akatsuki couldn't penetrate their well-rounded defenses. That and twenty years ago, one of smaller nations sent a platoon of spies into the Moonlight Kingdom in an effort to discover their unrivaled strength...only to have the entire nation crushed, destroyed and made an example of in a matter of a few months."

"So if he's so powerful, why doesn't he just come over and get his own noble home?" Naruto asked. Tsunade and Shizune turned to each other before answering Naruto.

"This mission wasn't actually issued by the prince himself but rather by King Sho. In fact, the prince has refused many times to inherit the throne because of an undisclosed incident that ruined the relationship between father and son. In an effort to mend their relationship, the King has imparted us with this mission to bring back the noble back to his country."

"Who is this person or noble that has so much hold over both the prince and the king?" Naruto asked. "It can't be his fiancee or long lost love or something could it?"

"Unlikely, otouto," Shizune answered. "From what our sources tell us, the prince is happily married and only just recently as well. Seeing as how powerful and capable he is, I doubt it that the prince would be marrying anyone other than the one he so chooses. There must be somethng else about this noble that King Sho has not told us about."

"Who is this person anyway?" Naruto asked.

"Apparently, he is a fourty-seven year old merchant that comes from one of the five major shinobi clans in the Moonlight Kingdom. Hence his nobility. Usually, the reputation of a noble is enough to make him a wanted man. In this case however, there must be someone within the kingdom who does not want the king and the prince to reconcile. This man therefore plays a pivotal role in mending that relationship. And since he has entrusted us with it, we cannot under any circumstances deny his request altough we have managed to fail making any progress for the past six months, partially due to the war. As you can see, if we do manage to complete this mission, the relationship between our two countries will be strengthen and that is why I am imparting you with this responsibility Naruto."

"Why make this a solo-mission? From what I can tell, the more ninjas, the better." Once more Shizune and Tsunade looked at one another before turning back to Naruto.

"That would be the case...if we hadn't lost a total of thirty seven ninjas over the past six month just for trying to get out of the fire nation's border."

"Someone must really want this guy dead." Naruto exclaimed.

"You won't be alone in this Naruto," Tsunade explained. "The nobleman himself has an elite troupe of ninjas and samurai to accompany him. The problem is that despite their abilities, there are only ten of them and hence why they requested aid as they are pestered almost twenty four seven on their way to the Moonlight Kingdom."

"Well, that makes it all the more interesting to say the least, travelling with an entourage of powerful ninja and shinobi," Naruto replied.

"This is no laughing matter otouto," Shizune said. "It says you're be gone for at least three months, maybe even a year if the odds are against you. Are you sure you want to go through this?"

Naruto thought about this carefully in his head, before deciding to ask his bijuu of their opinion but stopped at the last moment. This was his decision to make, not theirs. "Hai, I accept."

"Very well, one of our client's shinobi is waiting outside as we speak. I will call him in now to request for his judgement." With that said, Tsunade signalled for her anbus to bring the young man in. A moment later, a young man who appeared in his early twenties entered the room. He had unkempt black hair and was slightly taller but had the same stature as Naruto. What stood out most however, was that he had a blindfold over his eyes as well as a tanto blade strapped on the side of his right leg. The moment he entered the room, Naruto could feel an immense amount of power radiating from the man. This was shared by the bijuu.

**"This chakra! I know it!" Shukaku growled. **

**"No doubting it...it's ****_his_**** chakra," Kurama hissed. The rest of the nine bijuu remained silent. There was nothing more to be said.**

"Satoru-sama," Tsunade addessed politely. "This will be the ninja who'll be guiding you on your way back home."

"I thank you personally Hokage-sama on behalf of my group. I see you've decided to send one of your more excellent ninjas this time round," Satoru answered, as he turned slowly towards Naruto. Naruto eyed him warily and before he could blink, Satoru was immediately behind Naruto, with his hand reaching for his tanto blade. But before he could even have a chance of touching the blade, he felt the sharp sting of a kunai pressed against his belly.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Naruto said slowly. Both Shizune and Tsunade were shocked at the way the situation had turned out. Whatever they were betting on, this was more than they had gamble. Suddenly the man smiled before vanishing to appear once more in front the three of them.

"I apologise. I just wanted to test myself against you," Satoru exclaimed. "Afterall, it's not everyday you get to go one on one with...the Kyuubi Jinchuriki and the Hero of the Fourth Shinobi world war."

Before another word could be said, he vanished, leading all three konoha-nin wide-eyed and stunned.

"How did he know?" Naruto said.

"I don't otouto but for we can't take anymore risks. Tsunade-sama, I request Naruto be given anbu armor and an anbu mask to prevent his identity from spilling out during this mission."

"Agreed. Although how a blind man is able to recognise Naruto is more than worrying to say the least." Tsunade said. "Naruto, go and get your outfits from the anbu centre and no buts this time. I don't even want to think what the Moonlight Kingdom would do if they knew we were sending the hero fo the fourth shinobi worth war to their territory."

"That Satoru guy already knows anyway..." Naruto pointed out.

"That may be but I will request his silence if they want our cooperation in this mission. We can't take any more chances with the way this mission is turning out. Be back here in one week's time at seven in the morning in your new anbu uniform." With that Tsunade gestured for him to exit before discussing more private matters with Shizune.

"That was an impressive shushin Tsunade-sama," Shizune whispered. "I've never seen a body-flicker of such a high calibre. Not since the Yondaime hokage."

"And neither have I but we both know Minato's dead," Tsunade said. "In fact, the only people that could match up with that speed was Naruto himself and the Raikage but that was just a simple sushin...just how powerful are the shinobi from the Moonlight Kingdom?

_Meanwhile inside Naruto's subconscious_

**"Well, this is an interesting development," Matatabi purred. **

**"Indeed, it has been a long time since we've returned to the place of our roots..." Gyuki said. "Not since we were banished from that very same place..."**

**"And from a relative of the old man no less..." Goku muttered. **

**"I don't like where this is going..."Kurama stated. "But I suggest we use the week to truly trained Naruto."**

** The rest of the bijuus agreed immediately.**

**"Still...what was someone like ****_him_**** doing here," growled Kurama.**

**"Who was that guy," Saiken asked, only for Kurama to swish his tails in irritation.**

**"I don't know and I can't confirm it but if it is who I think it is...then we've bitten off more than we can chew."**

**There were not many who could keep Kurama on a tight leash but those that do also gave the rest of the bijuu a reason not to cross said people. Right now, things were going as smoothly as they had hoped.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter End<strong>

**Don't forget to review guys and don't forget about the names!**


	5. Chapter 5

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO.**

**Author's note: Hi again guys and thanks for the awesome reviews! More chapters-YAY! Got a bit of bad news though, my graduation is coming up soon and the chapters might not be uploading as much as possible; I might try posting two chapters in one day if I can help it but no promises. Expect more chapters though for the next two days at the very least. Still waiting for those names guys XD**

**For Ryuujin96; you expressed worry for Naruto being overpowered. Well, I would definitely say that he will definitely be weaker than his Six path form, I cannot guarantee it completely. This is because there is actually no formal measurement to compare how powerful characters actually are unless you pit the two of them together. I will be trying to limit Naruto's strength as much as possible but I have a very good reason why he needs a good strength boost as much as possible [although I won't be elaborating on that just yet as that would be spoilers but expect it to be a very GOOD one]. To make a long explanation short, I don't know how powerful he would actually be in this fic just yet so it'll be up to the readers to decide based on how the story is progressing. As such, I expressed my sincere apologies for not being able to answer your question. The only thing left to say is you have gauge or determine how powerful his new opponents are and then comparing them to him. Although, his opponents won't be as broken as Madara or Kaguya for that matter, he is still facing major 'S' rank enemies as explained in the previous chapter. I might make a data book on his new stats but until I get enough reviews requesting it, I won't be doing so.**

**On a side note: I will be removing some of Naruto's ninja techniques from the manga. An example would be all the extensions of the Rasengan. To be honest, I spent a good while thinking, why in the world would Masashi Kishimoto make an absurd amount of Rasengan versions? It seemed to a bit repetitive to me and I don't like to repeat things in general but maybe that's just me in general. So I will get it down to just three Rasengan techniques; Normal Rasengan, Rasenshuriken and Odama Rasengan. This does not include sage techniques though, since they are basically the same technique with sage chakra in it or techniques like double rasengan since its basically just two rasengans in each hand. Another thing, I might consider dropping is Naruto's nine tails chakra mode as he has too many modes already! From Sage mode to normal mode to Bijuu transformation. This is just a massive headache to me if I'm going to try and incorporate all these different modes together.**

**Bear in mind though that should I decide to drop Nine tails Chakra mode [which is looking extremely likely], all the techniques and extensions accompanying them would be dropped as well. An example would be the chakra arms as well as Tailed beast mode [although Naruto will still have the ability to become Kyuubi except that this type Kyuubi will actually be in the flesh instead of just a shroud of chakra, much like Killer Bee becoming the Eight-tails]. At one point I was considering to have him activate sage mode all the time but that was too absurd an idea and Naruto would be too overpowered and broken, so it was scrapped. While I have no qualms against other fics making Naruto super powered, I just can't see it in my fic but then again I don't know how powerful he'll be just yet. The readers might go, "He's too broken!" and I might be, "He still needs more power." I hope things work out properly though in the end...somehow...**

**BUT I DIGRESS. Anyway back to the story!**

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><p>Chapter 5: Training begins<p>

It was late evening before the lone ninja entered the camp in the woods surrounding the outside of Konoha. All in all, it had a very fruitful endeavour, Satoru thought. He had not been expecting to go against the nine-tails chakra anytime soon, not since _that_ incident which happened so very long ago now. Then again, this was Konoha we are talking about and the fact that everyone now knew who the hero of the fourth war was should have left little doubt in his mind. Still, he had not expected to be going on a mission with the Kyuubi's jinchuriki for the regard, regardless of how well luck was always on his side. A small smile tug at his lips, at that thought. Truth be told, he shouldn't be here right now but lady luck had a different idea regarding his supposed death eight years ago. Not that it matter now, afterall he was now a Moonlight shinobi and that was what all that mattered.

"Ah, so how was the trip down memory lane?" a soft voice broke out from the center of the camp.

"Ryota-sama," Satoru called out, as he made his presence know to the older man, before making his way towards him. "It was...nostalgic."

"I expected as much, Sh-"

"Please do not address me by that name while we are in Konoha, Ryota-sama," Satoru exclaimed. "We do not know who might be listening in."

'Hm, I still do not see the reason why you chose a different alias on this mission." Ryota replied. "Afterall, no one seemed to recognise you the last time we entered Konoha six months ago.

"Shinobi's protect peace from within the shadows," Satoru explained. "To be hidden while searching is apart of our true nature. Afterall, that is what you taught me. We can never be too careful."

"Perhaps, I taught you a little too well," Ryota answered. "Just how many different ways can you see without your eyes, I wonder?"

"There are more than one way to see," Satoru replied curtly. "If anything, losing my vision has helped strengthen me as a whole rather than dampening it." An akward silence spread throughout the clearing at Satoru's words. Wordlessly, Ryota filled a bowl full of stew before handing it to Satoru.

"Here, eat. You need to keep up your strength for the week ahead," Ryota expressed.

"Thank you," Satoru replied, as he took a small sip from the bowl. It was delicious. "Do you know when Mitsuo-sama and the young mistress will be here?"

"In a week's time, as planned," answered Ryota. "So what intel have you got to tell me from your meeting with Godaime-sama?"

A ghost of a smile lit up his face as Satoru merely said, "I can't tell you the specific details since Godaime-sama would most probably gut me if I spill the beans. No doubt she'll be wanting me to keep quiet about what happened during our meeting today. However, I will say this...this time, we will be returning home."

"Oh? How many did the Godaime sent this time? Ten? Twenty?" Ryota asked.

"One," Satoru answered, the smirk evident on his face as continue sipping his stew. He wouldn't know it but Ryota had a very curious look on his face as he digested this particular piece of information. However, the older man knew that he would be getting no more intel from his young friend tonight from the way the conversation was heading.

"Loyal to the very end, aren't you...Satoru-chan?" Ryota said carefully.

"Only when it matters," he answered warily. "You seemed to forget just what I gave up for this village's safety."

With that, Satoru stood up and stretched before making his way to his small camping tent, leaving Ryota to brood over the youth's words.

* * *

><p><em>The next day at the Hidden Leaf Village.<em>

A certain pink haired kunoichi was preparing herself for her usual morning training and hospital rounds. She hadn't seen Naruto since two days ago and that was a bit worrying for her. For a brief moment, Ino's words flashed through her head and she contemplated if Naruto was angry with her. Then a frown formed as she shook her head. If Naruto was angry with her, then she would have to take certain 'drastic' measures to ensure that he was put back at his place. It wasn't her fault that she rejected him but he had no real cause to be angry at her because he had long since knew that her heart belong to another. She knew their relationship would never mend after what she had done but at the very least, she hoped they could stay friends.

At that thought, she caught a glimpse of a blonde hair walking past her house as said blonde made his way to the training ground. Tightening her gloves, she jumped out of her window immediately, yelling, "Naruto, wait up!"

She saw the blonde boy flinched at her voice before vanishing in a puff of smoke. Cursing, she unconsciously began cracking her knuckles. Yeap, Naruto was still mad at her over what happened but that only made Sakura all the more want to knock some sense back in him. For a moment, she taught about chasing the blonde but decided against it. Tsunade never took kindly to tardiness. Sighing softly, she began making her way to the hospital. Whatever she was going to discuss with Naruto can wait, she thought. Afterall, the baka could take on anything and his time wasn't as precious as hers or so she thought.

_With Naruto_

"I had hoped NOT to see her ever again," Naruto said to no one in particular. It was strange how his love for the pink haired kunoichi slowly but surely turned into loathing and anger over the past two days. Right now she was the last person he would ever want to come in contact with ever again. All the better for him that neither Sakura, Kakashi nor Sai knew about his secret 'S' ranked mission then. Still, he didn't like the way how she managed to crop up in his dreams from time to time. It left him with a bitterness at reality once he woke up, along with that painful empty sensation in his chest. A sensation that only seemed to grow worse with time. The term 'heartache' had never registered to him before, but now he knew what it truly meant; it was as if every beat of his heart cause him pain whenever he allowed his mind to wonder back to that day. A sensation that he knew he would never get used to.

BUT I DIGRESS. Regarding withwhat happened with the council yesterday, the news about the civilian council being replaced and the way the clan heads swore loyalty to the Uzumaki clan had spread like wildfire in the morning. It was going to be the talk of the town for the rest of the week. Hearing one of the villages gossip as he made his way to the usual training grounds, made Naruto grimaced all the more. If anything, he had hoped that the news would break out after he had left on his solo mission. This was going to be an inconveniece. How was he going to train if every shinobi was going to walk up to him in the training grounds just to ask him for his confirmation?

**"Kitten," Matatabi called out affectionately, dragging him into his subconscious. "There's that hidden waterfall just outside the outskirts of the village that you used to train with the sannin before, remember? Why not used that?"**

"You're a genius Matatabi!"

**Matatabi blushed at his praise, purring slightly as she did so, while the rest of the tailed beast looked on in amusement.**

So what training are we exactly going to do today, Naruto thought. He had a rough idea from what Kurama had told him the night before. He was going to be taught the secrets of each of the nine bijuu as well as a specialised form of taijutsu, ninjutsu and to his surprise, fuinjutsu. How he was going to learn that last bit though was beyond him.

**"I'll be the one to teach you your father's personal form of taijutsu Naruto," Kurama stated. "Seeing as Yondaime was the one** **who imparted me with** **the knowledge of his own techniques."**

**"Likewise, I will be the first one to teach you about our tail beast skills and powers," Shukaku stated. "Once you have mastered my powers, you will move on to Matatabi."**

"What of fuinjutsu and ninjutsu?" Naruto asked.

**"All in due time fledgling," Saiken added. "The rest of us will be taking turns in helping you uncover the secrets of the Uzumaki scrolls,while Kurama and Shukaku will be teaching you the basics of tail-beast skills and advanced taijutsu.** **Today, you will be working with Gyuki on the scrolls."**

"Sweet!" Naruto stated. "I can't wait to start!"

Had he noticed the sadistic smile Kurama was giving him, he wouldn't be smilling as enthusiatically.

_A few moments later at the waterfall._

**"Okay Naruto, first of all, we need to discuss how exactly you are going to learn four different set of skills at the same time," Kurama explained.**

"Kage Bushin?" Naruto asked. Earning nods of agreement, Naruto immediately smiled at his answer.

"**However, you won't be making hundreds of them in mastering the skills we are about to grant to you, only four." Kurama continued, before shooting a glare at the blonde as if daring him to continue. "Youself included of course...so that means only three clones."**

"Why only three?!" he yelled out in exasperation.

**"Firstly, there are no short cuts in life if you remember what the Old Man said but this is a short cut anyway so I'll let it slide," Kurama growled at the teen's outburst. "More importantly, you're be learning how to manipulate our bijuu power properly in your mindscape and using an obscene amount of clones will be interfering with your chakra control. This could cause your chakra coils to burn out completely or at the very least leave you in the hospital as a result of chakra exhaustion. Either of which will leave you unfit for the mission next week." **

Seeing understanding flash before the blonde's eyes, Kurama continued, **"Shukaku will be one who will be explaining what exactly our bijuu powers do. I want you to make one clone who will be meditating under the waterfall, following the Ichibi's instructions. Likewise I want another clone to go over the Uzumaki scrolls with Gyuki and practice the jutsus in your mindscape with him. Finally** **I want you to make one last clone who will be training you in your father's taijutsu stance."**

"Two questions," Naruto interupted. "I thought you were going to train me and secondly, why are we practicing the techniques in my mindscape instead of out here in the open?"

**"I'll be answering your first question later when we actually get to taijutsu training." Kurama explained. "As for your second question, you;ll be able to achieve so much more in your mindscape since one second out here is equivalent to an hour in your mind."**

This time Naruto didn't bother to answer but they was still an uncomfortable look on his face. Seeing the look Kurama immediately understood the reason for it.

**"Nothing's going to happen to you even if we trash your mindscape Kit," he said. "The seal your blasted father** **made will see to it. The only thing is that I'm not so sure is if your body will be able stomach this rapid influx in knowledge."**

**"Afterall, knowing how to excute the techniques is totally different to actually excuting it," Choumei explained. "Your mind will no doubt be able ro understand the inner workings of what we will be disclosing to you but actually using the techniques will require your physical body to go through it." **

**"And we don't know how long that will take since Kurama over here was adamant that you won't be using any of those techniques until you got your old man's stance down," Goku grumbled.**

"Well, sitting in here won't do anything, so let's get started!" Naruto yelled impatiently. In the real world, he crossed his hands to form his favourite seal as he yelled, "Kage Bushin no jutsu!"

Immediately each of the clones went to their designated position. One, to the waterfall to meditate. Another immediately took out the clan scrolls that he had been given yesterday and began pouring through the contents of one that had the number one on its side and the last one stood facing him ready for combat.

_Back in his subconscious,_

The bijuus sighed at the blonde's impatient. He was never gonna change from what they could tell.

**"All right Gyuki, Shukaku, we've got our work cut out for us," Kurama stated. "The rest of you can do whatever you want. This is going to be a long week."**

_Back in the real world_

Naruto stared cautiously at his clone as it suddenly began clutching it's head and then lead out a small growl before relaxing somewhat.

**"Hello Naruto," Kurama said through the clone, causing the blonde to gasp. "Welcome to taijutsu training 101. Now, before we start, I want you to start doing 250 push ups, sit ups and quats. Follow that with another 200 punches and kicks and finishing it off with a 10km jog up and down this waterfall. Got that?"**

His face pale at the exclamation, Naruto could only say one thing, "Hai...sensei."

**Chuckling, Kurama replied, "I could get used to this."**

_With Shukaku, _

**"Let me explain the basics of our bijuu powers Naruto," Shukaku started. "As you know from our history, the Old man separated us into nine different entities, each with a different name and a number of tails."**

Naruto nodded. This much he knew.

**"Now, what you don't know but have probably figured by now is that each of us have different abilities. I, for instance, can control sand," Shukaku continued. "Not to mention that the old man gave me the ability to use the marking around my body as a form of a cursed seal." **

"Whoa...so does that mean I'll be able to control sand just like Gaara?"

**"No...there are certain limitations to what I can actually do seeing as I am only a small part of the actual Shukaku. Only those who have the real me sealed inside of them will actually be able to utilise my magnet release properly. Or in Gaara's case, having me sealed inside of him for a long enough time until his body sort of absorbed a substantial amount of my abilities." **

"But I was able to use Magma release from Son during the war!" Naruto protested.

**"Yes, I noticed," Shukaku said sarcastically. "However, if you must know, the level at which you were using was pitiful compared to what Roshi, Son's previous host, was able to achieve. This is why we have decided to train you in order to properly utilise our skills."**

"So does that mean that whatever skills I get from you will never amount to anything close to what your true forms are capable of?"

**"Yes...and no. You won't be able to utilise our true strength because we are only a small fraction of our true bodies. However, that doesn't mean that you can't supply whatever we lack with your own chakra and willpower. Take for example you and Roshi. Roshi is able to use less chakra and less effort for a greater control over Son's power. You on the other hand, have to pump a lot more chakra and a lot more effort to reach the same level of control he has achieved. Of course, if you attained a greater mastery of this control than Roshi, who's to say you won't be able to match or even overpower Roshi at his own game?"**

"But I still don't see why I can't use your sand powers..."

**Getting annoyed now, Shukaku hissed, "My power is magnet released and curse seal manipulation, Gaki! It isn't exactly sand control! Well not directly anyway! Its BECAUSE of my enormous power and control over magnet release that I'm able to control sand but because I'm but a pitiful shred of chakra inside of you, I don't have enough of that power to enable you to fully utilise that ability! I'm not exactly the true Ichibi here! I'm nothing more than a hopeless imitation of the real thing."**

"Never say that Shukaku. You are anything but hopeless," Naruto replied in a steely tone. Gone was the whinning kid from before, now stood the determined and knowledge hungry Naruto. "But tell me...what exactly can I do with your power?"

**Dreading this moment, Shukaku took a deep breath before answering, "Well...when you put it that way...my only power available for you is fuinjutsu through my magnet release..."**

"WHAT?! But Son was able to use magma release for almost anything?! Why can you only use one magnet release fuinjutsu only?!"

**"In case you haven't noticed Kid...I don't rely so much on my fuinjutsu as I did for my manipulation of sand so I rarely had time to experiment on anything fuinjutsu related. And since most of my magnet release focused on manipulating sand...I don't see any reason to expand my arsenal." Neither did Shukaku explained the fact that he COULDN'T.**

"You had millenia to learn!"

**"Discounting the fact that most of that time I was sealed away in a host," Shukaku countered back hotly. "You have understand kid that we bijuus don't use much jutsu. A better explanation is that our chakra takes on the form of a certain elemental affinity and rather than using hand seals or chakra control that you humans inadvertably developed, we just channel whatever we feel like it to make a weapon. In Son's case he spits outs lava from his mouth as a result of releasing his chakra. In my case, I control sand using my chakra. The only thing that we have in common is making the Tail-beast bomb."**

"Wait...does that mean I can use YOUR chakra to make a Bijuu Daama?" Naruto asked.

**Shukaku regarded his young student warily before answering, "I would rather you wouldn't. Unlike the fox who can reform his chakra, the rest of us can't. If you did use our reserves, we grow weaker until we disappear completely.**

"Oh," Naruto said simply. "I'm sorry I didn't know..."

**"It's okay kid. But you might be able to work around my magnet release. Who knows? You might be able to find a proper way to utilise it since I never could apart from controlling sand. However I can't give you any help on that. You might even find a way to control sand if your power over magnet release is high enough. Consider it like this, the more raw power you have from me, the less you have to exert control over my gekkei genkai. Hence, it's not as if you can't control sand just that my power is too low and your mastery over it is novice."**

"But won't using your kekkei genkai affect you as well?"

**"Not so. Drawing off chakra and using it to invoke control of the kekkei genkai are two different thing. When you draw off chakra from Kurama, you're actually using it to fuel your jutsu. When you invoke our kekkei genkai, that's a different matter altogether. Instead, you own chakra blends with mine in order to get a 'feel' for how magnet release is. At the same time, my chakra invokes a change in your such that yours changes to match mine. As a result, the chakra that is released from your body becomes able to control my gekkei genkai while at the same time, my chakra is untouched. Of course you could just use my chakra to invoke the magnet release but that would be a very unwise decision."**

"So basically my chakra gets transformed into yours? Albeit least beast like and more human?"

**"Exactly. Though its still less powerful as its nothing more than an imitation, if you will. Now are we going to stand here talking or are we going to start some training?!"**

"Okay! Let's start!

**"Wait, I forgot to mention that the Fox instructed me to teach you Wind release as well seeing as I'm also empowered with that element by the Old man. So the question is...which one do you want to get started on first?"**

A mischieveous grin lit up Naruto's face as he answered, "Humour me!"

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><p><strong>CHAPTER END<strong>

So how will training go for our young blond hero? Find out next time! Don't forget to review guys!

P.S. Still waiting for those names...


	6. Chapter 6

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO.**

**Author's note: Hi again guys and YAY for new chapters! Thanks so much everyone for the awesome reviews! I never expected this story to escalate so quickly when I first started it about a week ago, so thank you guys once more. On the less bright side of things, this might be the last chapter for a while since graduation is coming up in two days time and I'll be busy making arrangements. I will try to upload as much as possible but don't raise your expectation too much. Now for some of the concerns. Sigh, I knew when I brought Satoru in to the story, there will be a bit of a headache. Still, I can't exactly say too much but from what I can guess from the reviews, some people expect him to be drastically overpowered. **

**[SPOILER ALERT] This isn't the case if you've managed to figure out who he actually is and I suspect some of you have actually managed to piece together the subtle hints and puzzles I left two days ago.**

**For luqie10: The people from the Moonlight Kingdom are definitely powerful but there is a very good reason as to that. I have a very strong plotline to why. I'm a bit worried though since it is a bit too cliche and I hope the readers won't be too annoyed at it. Once again I apologise if this fic offends anyone. However, I can't tell you why just yet since that would be a major spoiler. The tailed beasts aren't so worried about them but they do show interest [not concern] regarding the Moon Kingdom at the end of Chapter 4. What this means I cannot explain because again that would be a major spoiler. I'll leave that up to your imagination but try re-reading their last dialogue from Chapter 4. You might be able to get a few more intel from them. **

**On a side note: As I stressed before I will be trying to keep Naruto as balanced as before, not so over-powered that he'll be able to kill ninjas with just a flick of his finger. Since I'm following the manga route, he is perhaps the strongest right right now but that doesn't mean he can't be defeated. As explained by Ryuujin96, a super-powered ninja can definitely be killed by a less experienced one through sheer skill and talent. That is why Satoru was able to get an edge on Naruto. Power-wise, he is weaker but he compensates this by sheer speed with the element of surprise. Remember, Shinobis leave in a world of deceit; true power doesn't mean being able to bend millions with just pure jutsu alone. Rather, how you achieve victory without even engaging in combat or without anyone knowing who you are or what you just did; that is what I believe a true ninja is. This is one of the many reasons why the Moonlight Kingdom is so feared. Since knowledge equals power and because no one knows about them, they are inscrutible. They're not actually undefeatable as I make them to be. However, their greatest asset is that everyone is intimidated by them. Everyone's so scared that nobody dares to do anything and hence why they might seemed so overpowered. I think that might have scared some of the readers...haha...**

**On a side note; The bijuus will be explaining some of the things regarding the Moonlight Kingdom, though not by much. Sp pay close attention if you're one for details although there will be nothing about the goverment, system or what's going on in the Kingdom. Again, that would be major spoilers. Instead it'll be about a general discussion on what the bijuus think about the Kingdom.**

**BUT I DIGRESS. Anyone onward to the story!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 6:Training part two<strong>

**"Again Naruto!" A rough voice called out, though not unkindly, as our blonde hero once more struggled to his feet, panting as he did so.**

It had been four hours since Kurama had started teaching the battle stances and the fighting style of the Yondaime Hokage to his young son. Right now Naruto was sweating profusely as rushed at Kurama again with his right arm extended back, and his left pulled back for a punch. Just as he was about to reach Kurama, the clone disappeared and reappeared behind him, about to disable him with a quick chop to the back of his neck when Naruto swung round, his right leg countering the attack.

**"Improvisation. Impressive," Kurama commented. Then disappearing and reappearing in the same spot, he knocked out the blonde with a quick kick to his face. Naruto who had been expecting Kurama to reappear behind him was unprepared for the change in tactic and so was completely taken in surprise, as he fell to the ground. "I can improvise too."**

Naruto sighed as he struggled once more on to his feet. Ever since the training started, he hadn't even been able to land one hit on Kurama. The damn fox had managed to catch him unaware at every possible opening and was unaturally rough with his jabs, punches and kicks. Right now, he whole body was aching from the effort of even standing up. He learned quickly though. Kurama was definitely a good teacher but a very harsh as well. There was just no way for him to even try and match the fox's speed. For some reason, his clone was able to move at a level far greater than even he could.

_In his mindscape_

**"You're cheating!" hissed Matatabi. "How dare you use MY kekkei gankai!"**

**Kurama shrugged before answering, "you've been saying that for the past four hours. I've told you, a shinobi is allowed to use whatever weapons he has. And you're just as much a part of him as I am which means I get to borrow your strength as much as I like."**

**"He has yet to learn my Swift release!" Matatabi retorted sharply. "It is unfair for the kitten!"**

**"You'll be teaching him soon enough," Kurama shrugged. "And besides...it's not my problem."**

_Back in the real world._

**"I think that's enough Naruto," Kurama said. "It's about one now and you deserve a well earned rest. Go get lunch, we'll be resuming at three."**

With that, the clone vanished on the spot.

The youth could only nod as he collapsed to the floor, panting heavily as he did so. His mind racing, trying to remember what Kurama had told him of his father's technique. It was no great secret that the Yondaime Hokage had managed to earn his moniker, "Konoha no Kiroi Senko" based on his extreme speed and his mastery over the Flying Thinder God technique. What many didn't know was that his battle stances and battle style actually held an impressive set of complex well-thought out movements. Why no one had managed to realise this was once more due to the ingenius ability of the Fourth Hokage. Unlike certain battle styles which made use of a set of coordinated movements, such as the Strong Fist or the Gentle Fist, Minato's only derived style, dubbed '_**The Sleeping Dragon'**_[Brownie points for you who got that reference] made use of a rather unorthodox method of fighting.

While most martial arts [if you're a martial artist like me, you probably have a better grasp of this] have a fairly consistent style of both offensive and defensive katas or stances, T**_he Sleeping Dragon,_**rather, lacked both. Instead, for offensive purposes, Minato had devised a strategy to just charged head-in first at his opponents without any general fighting stance in thought. This itself, while seeming foolish, was actually a very good ploy as inexperienced opponents who have never been out of the battlefield much, would have severely underestimated him, on account of his recklessness to rush into battle. For battled hardened veterans, this was an entirely new concept, it would be considered suicidal for someone of his calibre to do somethingas rash as this but because they all know he didn't become the Yellow Flash because of his rashness, they were caught completely unaware as they knew something was definitely wrong with his fighting style but couldn't exactly pinpoint what it was about it. As a result, they become too wary of him and severely overestimate his fighting capabilities.

This was why **_The Sleeping Dragon_** style was so dangerous. What truly shoned about Minato's fighting style however was it's defensive properties. This style relied heavily on his immense speed and reaction time to outmatch and catch his opponents unaware. To give a brief overview, the style relies on a quick rush in to incapacitate opponents and then followed up with an immense reaction to the opponents follow-up after the initial rush in. In essence, it was considered a 'YANG' martial art. Yin martial arts focus on attacking the opponents without giving them much thought on counterattacking. Yang martial arts however, focus on letting the opponents come at you while you wait for the appropriate time and place to strike back. While rushing in might make this style seemed at first a Yin style, it couldn't be more wrong. The initial rush in was used by Minato to gauge his opponents skills and abilities. Once he had a fairly good idea of what his opponents could do, then would the true style of the dragon be unleashed, in which Minato would carefully counterattack and strike at the holes and flaws of his opponents fighting abilities.

What was even more dangerous about this style was the fact that because it was Yang martial arts, it would be able to compensate for not just taijutsu but also ninjutsu, however, not genjutsu. This was because it was a style that was honed and focused on reacting and counterattacking. Most people did not realise this but over a certain period of time, when training to hone your abilities, your body subconsciously adapts to follow a repetitive pattern of coordinated movements. [Again if you're a martial artist, you'll realise this almost immediately and hence why sparring to develop newer and more personal techniques become important if you love sparring...like me :D].

However, you might be thinking, won't Minato's techniques themselves follow a repetitive pattern of counterattacking as well? You won't be wrong in this regard but Minato, being the seals master that he is, managed to circumnavigate this effect by developing a seal, that tells him where to attack his opponent and how to go apart doing it; from using kicks and punches to Rasengan and the the Hirashin technique., all of which was random. Of course, doing so, made him see a huge flaw in this technique; he would be entirely dependent on his seal. And while there was nothing wrong with that [yeah right], Minato didn't like the idea of being dependent on something. It was a huge flaw to his technique and as such he made sure to never activate said seal unless a fight prolonged too far for his taste. That didn't mean that he would purposely prolonged battles himself however. As such, he trained and trained himself, incorporating many different styles and stances from various other fighting stances into _**The Sleeping Dragon**_stance, from somersaults to backthrusts to even the leaf hurricane, in an effort to make his style as unpredictable as possible. And he trained relentlessly to maintain his sharp reflexes for counterattacking his opponents.

Only one person has ever managed to fight him on par and that was Might Dai. Dai was always able to find the perfect counter to this stance since after a particular time had gone by, Minato's movements would always looped back to formed a certain pattern. However, Minato would then crsuh what little hope Dai had by activating his random seal, catching his opponent unaware. Of the battles that he had with Dai, not once did Dai ever win, although he came very close each time. Dai, himself, was considered one of the two contributors to the stance, along with Minato and would have incorporated it into his stance if not for the fact that the stance made use of jutsus that he could not use such as the Rasengan. Dai himself, had but one word for the stance, "_Deadly"_

To quote his own thoughts about the stance, this was what he would have said,

_"Impressive Minato, to be able to incorporate so many different physical taijutsu as well as high-rank ninjutsu to a taijutsu stance is remarkable. It not only gives you an edge in battle but rather that seal makes it so unpredictable that even I, as a master martial artist, can't even fathom was is going on. It's like an amalgam of the Strong fist and the drunken fist, except for the fact that you rely on pure speed and not raw power. What's even better is that you continously add more new techniques to this stance! I can already see the true potential of this stance; no two people would have the same pattern since it relies totally on your own reaction time and rapidly growing arsenal! You could teach someone all the different stances that you've incorporated and after two years, whem you both come back and sparred each other, it would still be a surprise since the two of you would have added new contributions to this stance! It would be a never ending battle! It's as if you've awaken a sleeping dragon!" _

Because of his numerous contributions to the style, Minato named it _**The Sleeping**__**Dragon**_, as a courtesy of Dai, much to Dai's happiness and honour. Naruto, however, was finding it extremely difficult to master the first set of stances. Kurama had not yet explained to him that the true purpose of the exercise was teaching him how to react and counter each of his different moves. Rather, he had left the youth to figure out the true goal of the the training. Instead, he had taught Naruto all the different taijutsu techniques and stances, borrowed from Minato from different styles and then rushing at Naruto, forcing him to find a way to counterattack Kurama, while at the same time struggling to master the many different techniques. If his concentration slipped for just one second, he would be sent sprawling to the floor, with the wind knocked out from his lungs. Of course, if he had his way, he would be having multiple shadow clones learning all the multiple somersaults, jumps, feint, punches, kicks and multiple other techniques but Kurama wouldn't let him. For one, Naruto's new body needed to adapt to the new strength and speed training. And secondly, Kurama wanted to drill all the different techniques into the boy's mind so that it became almost second nature to him; one of the few downsides of the shadow clones was that they don't contribute to muscle memory.

What was even worse was that Kurama had now placed Naruto on a strict diet regiment. The boy was not allowed to go near Ichiraku's ramen store and if he wanted food, he would have to forage the surrounding forest for game and wild plants. This was another training regiment meant to strengthen the boy's stealth and tracking skills. While at the same time, honing his senses and reaction speed. To add insult to injury, he only had two hours to forage and hunt for game, as well as preparing and cooking them for lunch. Just as the thought rushed by his mind, Naruto immediately got up and set off into the surrounding woods, trying to remember what kind of edible plants there were. Realising that he had absolutely no idea which kinds of plants were edible or not seeing as he had always managed to sleep through those lessons in the academy, he cursed silently. Well, there's always hunting, Naruto thought sourly. This day just got all the more worse.

_Back with Shukaku in Naruto's mindscape_

**"Hmm, looks like you've finally got the hang of my curse seal youngling," Shukaku said, while staring at the Naruto clone who was gasping for breath. **Truth be told, he was impressed that the boy had managed to finally managed to grasp the concept of harnessing Magnet release after only a few days. It was futile first few days in his mindscape which equal to a mere few minutes in reality. At first, the clone had only managed to summon a few cursed seal markings before having them completely dissipate after a few minutes of summoning them. It wasn't long before clone was furious at his lack of success. Afterall, the concept of adding Madgnet release was almost instant when he first used it during the Fourth Shinobi World War. It was then that Shukaku decided to break news to the boy that he had lent a hand back then but he wasn't going to right now if the boy was going to truly master his Tail beast skill. Rather than having the news break the young boys resolve, it had only furthen strengthen his already indomitable resolve and determination to master the ability even more.

So after a few days of fruitless effort and little to no progress, it came as a surprise to both the tanuki and the clone that Naruto had just suddenly managed to get the hang of it as if something just sort of clicked at the back of his mind. The boy was mentally exhausted at finally grasping the concept of the tail beast's skill but was not physically as he had relied entirely on the Fox's chakra while the real Naruto was busy training with Kurama utilising his own true chakra. Still, that was only the easy step in learning how to access the tanuki's abilities. Now came the second part of his training; learning how to use the curse seal.

**"Okay Naruto," Shukaku stated. "I'm going to be summoning a few fox clones using his chakra. Now, I want you to try sealing them up. It'll be different to my normal sealing though so this will be a new experience for me as well."**

"How so?"

**"For starters, I use sand along with my seals. You have the seals but no sand. Hopefully, it'll be the same." **Just as Shukaku finished the sentenced, four Kurama clones appeared from the pool of water they were standing on to face the clone. They each differ in size from the small one on the left being as big as Naruto himself, to the farthest one of the right whch was as huge as the actual Kurama. Immediately, Naruto summoned the chakra required to fuel the technique before slamming his hands onto the surface of the water. A string of cursed seals flowed from his hands and began travelling to the smallest fox clone, before wrapping themselves around said clone continously until the clone was no longer visible, through the jumbled mess of sealed writing.

**"Magnet release: cursed seal of the Tanuki's burial!" **the clone called out. Once he was sure that the sealing was complete, the clone released his hand from the water surface before forming his hands into the familiar ram seal. Almost immediately, the sealed fox clone began struggling to free itself from his restraints and the Naruto clone had to pump more and more chakra in order to keep his sealed captive incapacitated. Unfortunately, he was still too inexperienced and slowly Naruto was losing this tug-of-war. In a mere matter of seconds, the fox clone free itself in a savage roar, snapping the seals holding him together, casuing them to dissipate. The Naruto clone was knocked back from the back lash of the technique and found himself face first on the water's surface. Grimacing, he slowly stood up, before flashing a sheepish grin at the tanuki.

"So...how'd I do?" he asked.

**"Well, it's not perfect but you've got the basics about the technique nailed down," Shukaku explained. "You pumped quite a bit of chakra though creating a huge amount of seals. I'm not so sure if you needed that many." **Shukaku had explained the basics of his cursed seal technique to Naruto. The more cursed seal markings he made, the stronger the seal was and the less amount of chakra was required to maintain the seal. However, in contrast, a lot of chakra was needed to execute the technique since the amount of markings created was proportional to the amount of chakra required. Hence, there was a fine line required to actually executing the technique and maintaining it. Naruto merely grinned before getting up and trying the technique again.

While he hadn't said anything on the subject, Naruto knew just how useful this tail-beast skill was. Shukaku had explained that unlike other fuinjutsus, which required the user to either prepared the markings of the seal before hand, or master it to a degree where you can summon the markings without it [I will be explaining this later on], his tail-beast skill required nothing of the sort since the markings were all over his body and because Shukaku was nothing more than a huge construct of chakra, so were the markings. Hence, this allowed Naruto to summon said seal markings just by invoking the magnet release kekkei genkai [Please read previous chapter for more information]. Add that to the fact that the tanuki accidentaly let slip of the fact that because his seals were just like any others, you could technically incorporate the seal's 'formula' into another seal. Hence, enhancing that second seal while simultaneously strengthening the tanuki's original one. He couldn't wait to start incorporating different seals together. While he didn't know any fuinjutsus at the moment, he knew that the Uzumaki clan were seal masters and if the clan was anything to go by, he was willing to bet that there were going to be more than a few scrolls on the subject of fuinjutsu from his clan repertoire of jutsus.

Add that to the bonus was the fact that Shukaku's magnet release fuinjutsu required no hand seals. This was what got Naruto hooked on the subject since very few seal masters had managed to bypass that requirement and even then, only a few fuinjutsus came under that category. To find a original fuinjutsu technique which did not require hand seals was too good to believe. Add that to the fact that it was relatively simple jutsu to master compared to other high-level sealing techniques made it even more valuable. However, what took home the gold for Naruto was that nobody bu the Ichibi's jinchuriki was able to learn this technique. Hence, only him, Gaara and Shukaku was able to use it. This would give a certain raven haired boy a nasty little surprise when they next have their promised spar.

_With Gyuki,_

Another Naruto clone was busy sorting out the Uzumaki scrolls. Naruto had managed to sort them out into three categories. First were the clans custom and traditions. These made up about a tenth of the scrolls his mother left for him. Most of the clans tradition and customs were pretty much the same as any other clans found in Konoha. However there were a few exceptions. Firstly, the clan valued family above all else, and there was a much revered law that stated that should any Uzumaki find another clan member injured, they would on no account, regardless of missions or circumstances, abandon said comrade. The only loophole to this was if both Uzumakis were in enemy territory and the only way to save the other's life was to abandon said injured comrade, then the uninjured uzumaki was allowed to do so. However, even then many Uzumaki preferred to die than abandon their injured comrade to the arms of the enemy. A trait that Naruto seemed to have inherited. If however, the comarade was dead or dying with no chance of survival, the Uzumaki member would, under clan custom and tradition, be forced to bring said member back to bury them back in Uzushiogakure. Again, the only loophole was if they were in enemy territory and were under dire circumstances.

The second anomaly to the clan's customs and traditions was that any member who married into the clan was welcome with open arms and treated with full rights and priveleges as a clan member, meaning that they would be allowed to learn all the clan's secrets and techniques. However, to marry an Uzumaki was no simple feat. The elders have long realised that many enemy ninja would try to take account of many of their clan member's naivety and trusting nature and hence have managed to counter this little mishap. They wasn't any ritual spar to prove whether you were worth marrying into the clan; no, afterall the Uzumaki were a peaceful clan. Rather, those who wanted to marry were forced to have a cursed seal applied to them that would kill them immediately should them decide to abandon their spouse with the clan's secrets. Minato was no acception. Unlike the Hyuuga's caged bird seal, this forbidden kinjutsu did not give the sealer any power over the sealed. Hence, many have tried to learn the clan's secrets through this technique only to face the angry wrath of the Uzumaki clan members. When a clan member realised they were tricked and had their emotions toyed with, they faced unchained anger and vengeance from said members. It was not a well known fact that despite being a rather civil clan, the Uzumakis hold terrible grudges and because they valued family above all else, hurting one member invited the wrath of the entire clan. More than a few clans had fallen to the Uzumaki's secret fuinjutsu techniques when they invoke the clan's wrath. Of course, the reason why this was not well know was that clan members were cunning in taking up missions where they would face opposing clans that invoke their wrath. Hence, they were able to uphold their duty of being shinobi while at the same time getting vengeance for their beloved ones. However, while the clan was truly powerful, they also had a bad record of finishing missions, on account of never abandoning a comrade, regardless of the situation. This was why they were never as feared or respected aa the Senju or the Uchiha, even though they were on equal footing with the two. The Senjus, however, were on close relations with the Uzumaki and hence why the Uchihas never bothered the Uzumakis. So far as the Uzumakis were concerned, they had no right in meddling with another clan's affair, even though many members cried out for the Uchiha's blood at having their brethen Senju members killed. Fortunately, for the Uchihas, many Senju leaders had always managed to pursuade the Uzumakis from interfering in their affairs. This was because although the Uzumaki's were powerful and extremely vengeful, they were still pacifists by nature and the Senjus were worried that their young cousin clan would get decimated by the Uchihas, although they couldn't be more wrong.

Sadly, karma always comes back to serve its' just rewards. It was because of the clan's decimation of others that eventually lead to their destruction. Also, because clan members refused to leave Uzushiogakure, on the account of betraying their families, this made them easy targets when the village was destroyed. The remaining survivors then left Uzushiogakure, to brood over their clan's law and customs. Naruto, himself frowned at his clans' actions. While he praised the clan's loyalty to its members and the well being of the village, he criticised the way his clan members held grudges as well as their unbiased attitude at eliminating thier enemies completely. It seemed that the clan not only managed to inherite their brethen senju's ideals but also a bit of their other [unknown] cousin clan's habit, the Uchiha's thrist for vengeance. If anything, Naruto had learnt that vengeance only led to more hate from the war, a problem he had yet to figure out the solution for.

Finishing his lesson on his clan's customs, and tradition, he now began to move on to the part he had waiting for; the clan's secrets and justu which made them so famous. He grinned widely as he took up a large green scroll, with the number one on it's side.

**Gyuki smiled and thought to himself, this was where things were going to get interesting.**

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><p>Chapter End<p>

Sorry for the delay in the chapte guys, this was doosy to write. Look forward to the next chapter! Hina's yet to appear but she should soon! I promise! What will Naruto learn from his clan? Find out next time!

P.S. Don't forget to review!

And still waiting for those names...


	7. Chapter 7

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO BUT I WOULD LIKE TO EXPRESS MY SINCERE GRATITUDE TO MASHASHI KISHIMOTO FOR CREATING THE MANGA OF WHICH THE FIC WOULD NOT BE POSSIBLE WITHOUT HIS HELP.**

**Author's note: Hi again guys. Ok, this will definitely be the last fic for a LONG time what with my personal life will be going through over the next couple of days. I hope you guys enjoy this. Maybe this time I'll be able to get some good Japanese names for my character over the long break [LOL]**

**On a side note: I really need to start getting the romance going on since I was having a hard time trying to give you guys a better idea and overview of my version of the Naruto universe, as well as Naruto's personal development prior to the mission. Hina should either be appearing in this chapter or the next-I don't know how that'll work out just yet but please bear with me on that.**

**BUT I DIGRESS. Anyway, thanks for the awesome reviews guys and let's get back to the story!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 7: Training part 2<strong>

_Far away from Konoha on a barren landscape..._

A young man with a straw hat casting a shadow over his face smirked slightly as he picked up his long slender blade that he had left on the ground, sheath and all. Slowly, he looked at his palms before clenching and unclenching his fists as he went mentally went through everything over the past few days. Training alone was always worthwhile for the man but this new development in his powers was more than worthwhile. It was...rewarding. He extended one hand over to a small rock like structure to his right and expanded some chakra onto his outstretched palm. Almost immediately, the rock shattered into a million pieces.

"Hn...still not good enough," he muttered. Sighing softly, he began to pack up. "But'll it have to do for now. Next stop...Iwakagure..."

With that said, the young man begin his long trek to the Hidden Rock village a couple hundred of miles ahead of him. All the while thinking of how a certain blonde was doing back at the leaf...

_With Gyuki_

**"So Naruto...if the first category of scrolls are about the Uzumaki's laws, customs and traditions...what about the remaining two?"**

"Hm, the second pile relates to all of my clan's secret techniques and jutsus," the blonde said, pointing to the larger of the two remaining piles. "Apparently more than three quarters of them are related to sealing based techniques, their guidelines as well as their principle...even how to make your own seals."

**"What of the remainder and the other pile of scrolls?"**

"The remaining one quarter consists of very high ranked kinjutsus that the Uzumakis developed over the decades. It seemed that the lowest of these are at least A-ranked. Huh...sort of puts my shadow clone technique to shame really," he muttered alound. "Mom...just how powerful was our clan?"

**"Are you alright Naruto?"**

"Huh? Oh sorry about that Gyuki. Mind just drifted off for a bit. Anyway the last pile consists of details about the Uzumaki's kekkei genkai, the _**sacred **__**chains**_. It seems to be a very common bloodline limit with almost all know Uzumaki's awakening it at a very early age."

**"Hmm...you awakened yours quite late."**

"I was getting to that," Naruto explained. "It says here in the scrolls that the _**sacred **__**chains**_ bloodline can only be awaken when another member helps trigger something in your chakra. Seeing as I was one of the last Uzumakis, it would have been nigh own impossible for me to activate it on my own. Luckily, Kurama helped me with that."

**"Interesting," Gyuki replied. "So which one do you want to get started on? Bloodline limit or clan techniques?"**

"I think going with my bloodline limit will be much more benificial at this state since I have absolutely no idea what it can do." Naruto replied. "Still, I'm going to make one more extra shadow clone to work on the sealing techniques. I don't think Kurama would mind."

**"Hmm, I see no harm in that," Gyuki observed. "Go ahead, you have my permission to do so. I'll tell the nine-tails later but go and ask Saiken for help on your clans' secret techniques."**

"Hai Sensei!" With that Naruto made another clone, which immediately went off to Saiken to learn the secret and rather mysterious concepts of seals.

It wasn't very long for Naruto to soon learned the strength, versatility and durability of his kekkei genkai. Chakra chains could emmerge from anyway of his body. This was what made it so versatile. Added to that was the fact that the chains could go in any direction he should chose. The more he learned about the _**sacred **__**chains**_**, **the more he fell in love with it. The most common use for it was as a means of attacking enemies; the chains could be made to be of whatever size and strength the wielder wanted. It could either be used as a torture device for interogation purposes, with many spikes or as a silent assasination technique which could be used to spear an enemy almost immediately behind his back, without them knowing it. The chains could even be used as a means of defense by having them wrap around the user to absorb enemies' jutsu. However one great flaw of the technique was that although it could form a huge dome like semi circle [think back to when Kushina used it to stop the nine-tails], the chains were not able to compensate for the space in between them. Hence, the greater the chains extended to form a proetective semi-circle about the user, the less reliable they were since enemies to just lauch jutsus in-between the chains. The other flow about the chains was that they needed to be in contact with the user. If the link between user and chain was broken, the broken off chain wold simply dissipate.

Naruto soon nailed down the basics and became very proficient to using his gekkei genkai in a mere eight hours after experimenting with it. The chains were simple to control and effective to use. The only problem he had was that he could only form a total of four chains at any one time throughout his body and the chains could only extend as far as fifty meters from where he stood. Still that to be expected, as the scrolls told him that with greater experience and practice, he would be able to extend his reach even further and summon more and more chains.

"I think I've just about done with my kekkei genkai, Gyuki," the clone said.

**Gyuki nodded his approval. "So you have** **fledgling.** **I only wish I could have been a better teacher on instructing you on your kekkei genkai."**

"Don't sweat it! I've learnt more from you than Kakashi sensei during my first year as a genin!" Naruto replied with a huge grin. This earned a dark glare from the eight tales.

**"Yes...about that. I like to have a word with your ****_sensei_**** about teaching his prized pupil to ram a bleeding chidori into my host!" Gyuki hissed. "Both of them I might add!"**

"Ah cheer up, you big octopus you," Naruto laughed. "It wasn't kaka-sensei's fault."

**Gyuki found it very hard to argue with his happy-go-lucky student, so he decided to drop the matter...for now. One thing the tail-beasts kept from him was their utter contempt at this man named Kakashi but if their host looked up to the man, then they would honor their respect. are  
><strong>

**"So what are you planning to do now, Naruto?" Gyuki asked. "There's nothing more I can help you with your kekkei genkai."**

"Well, I was thinking of dispersing but no doubt my true self is probably still having Kurama beat himself to a pulp," the clone stated with a half-laugh. "I think I'll just continue practicing my kekkei genkai until I get the hang of it."

**"Hmm, a wise decision," Gyuki replied. "I can't wait until its my turn to teach you my tail-beast skill Naruto. But enough talking, those chains are going to train themselves you know!"**

"Hai Sensei!" the clone said, before resuming his practice and control over the _**sacred** **chains** _bloodline. Few would know it but Naruto was a natural at his gekkei genkai and the amount of control he already have over his bloodline limit was astounding.

_With Saiken  
><em>

**"So Naruto-kun, what is it that you need my help for?" Saiken asked gently. **

"Gyuki sensei sent me to request your help in learning some of the more secretive techniques of my clan," Naruto stated. "I want to start learning fuinjutsu...dod tail you know any Saiken-chan?"

**Said Tailed beast began brooding over her thoughts. "Usually Shukaku would be the one who you go to where seals are concerned but I will help you where I can."**

"Okay!" the clone replied happily and began pouring over the scroll. Saiken couldn't help but smiled at the young blonde's antics. He was acting like a young child and for some unknown reason, that awaken some sort of maternal feeling inside the slug. Almost like that of a mother with her newly borned son. Saiken continued to stare affectionately at Naruto until he noticed that his eye lids began to droop slightly and his shoulders began to slump. Almost at once, she extended one of her six tails onto the unsuspecting blonde...before raming it rather hard onto the blonde's back. This action caused the clone to fall face over heel in his mindscape as well as causing him to tumble multiple times before stopping with a moan at the pain he was feeling. It was a miracle that he hadn't dispersed yet.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" he complained, rubbing his back painfully at Saiken's actions.

**"There will be no slouching in my class Naruto-kun," Saiken replied strictly. "I won't have anyone snoring under my watch."**

Saiken might be the most motherly of all the tailed beasts but that didn't mean that she couldn't hold up a stiff persona when the time called for it and while she worried about harming said blonde, she would not have him slack of on his studies. If anything, his studies was just as important as his health and should Naruto got injured because she allowed him to skim through his education, well...she wouldn't be able to live with herself.

**"Now, if you're done mopping Naruto-kun, tell me how many different level of seals there are according to your clan scroll," she demanded in a stern tone.**

Gulping slightly, Naruto began to glance at the scroll but stopped at the look Saiken gave him. Slowly he place the scroll down onto the water surface before trying to order his thoughts on what he had learnt just before being winded by the six-tails.

"According to the Uzumaki clan scrolls, there are many different levels for a seal practitioner but the Uzumaki clan grades a user based on their ability to perform ten different types of seals and hence they are altogether ten levels, each being harder than the last."

**"Good, it shows that you've paid attention. Now tell me...what exactly are the ten different levels?"**

"Hmm, it says here that the basic level of sealing is actually summoning techniques. And because evryone can do it, it is the easiest level. However, it says here that I can't proceed to level two until I'm actually able to reverse the summoning...basically practice sealing an object away instead of summoning it from its sealed state," the Naruto clone whined.

**"Oh and why sealing harder than summoning?" asked Saiken. "While you're at it, can you tell me what kind of things can you seal and what kind of stuff can you seal them into?"**

"Sealing is gonna be awful for me because...it says here that I have to practice...CALLIGRAPHY!" the clone wailed. This earned a sweatdrop from the six tails. "And apparently you can seal anything! This was why the Uzumaki clan was so feared. You could seal anything ranging from weapons to chakra based techniques to even humans...the list is endless, the possibilities limitless. Unfortunately, the stuff you can seal it into is somewhat limited. Mostly, you need an object that can absorb chakra. Scrolls made from the tress which have been raised on chakra are the prime example. Humans were the first actual subject of sealing since they contain chakra themselves but apart from that any living breathing thing is possible. However, there is a limit to how much you can seal into an object. Most scrolls can only ever accept one other object being sealed into them. Similarly, sealing something much bigger than the scroll that is to contain it would most likely cause it to shatter. That's because level one seals aren't made for such durability. However, it isn't impossible to perform the latter two with higher level seals. Sealing more than one object into another is actually quite an easy feat for a Seals Master. Likewise, I'm living proof for the last one as I contain nine monstrous constructs of chakra in me."

"Level two consists ofthe making of explosive tags," the Naruto clone continued. "This consists of sealing chakra onto the sealed object instead of another object. However, this is extremely difficult since chakra doesn't actually have a proper 'form' or what the scrolls define it as 'matter'. Hence, why most seal practitioners never get past the first level. It also says here that one tiny mistake in your brush stroke will make the seal backfire...making it an extremely dangerous art to even attempt."

**Saiken glanced warily at the clone as she poured over the information. What were these humans thinking when they were creating jutsus?! Humanity was just making life difficult for themselves when they tried to cultivate the world for their own uses. Then again, if there ever was one person who was to be blame for all of this, it would be the Rikudou Sennin as he was the one who started Ninshu which ultimately led the path for the development of ninjutsu. If it was any consolation though, ninshu was created to create peace whereas ninjutsu was used to extend wars. She wondered sadly at what the old man would say if he saw the world as it is now. Then she discarded the thought; Hagoromo would never be as petty as that. Rather than beat himself over the fact that he created this mess in the first place, he would find a way to resolve all of it...it was then that Saiken realised something...he did found a way; he had left all his hopes and dreams onto the young boy in front of him; Naruto. Once more, she stole a quick glance at the young boy, a warmth of affection in her heart as she did so.  
><strong>

"Level three is where the art finally gets interesting," the clone continued, completely oblivious to Saiken thoughts. "It details the explanation and the theory behind how to seal multiple different objects into a single scroll. However, there are again limitations on how much objects you can seal since the level three seals are not indefinite in their power as well, even though they're much more durable and powerful than level one seals. Well...that or you could try combining different seals together. This is what brings us to the next tier of sealing, level four; seal combinations! It says here that by combining-

**"I think that's enough Naruto," Saiken interrupted. There was now a dangerous gleam in the blonde's eye that she didn't like. While she was happy** **that he was taking this area of his studies more seriously, she didn't want him to skip through the lower levels before his was ready. Heck, level two seemed lethal as it is! From what she could gather, there were at least two tier of the sealing arts. Levels one to three formed the basics or rather foundation of the aspect. Whereas the next levels would former the higher tier of sealing. She didn't know if there was a third tier of sealing or not but that would be a concern for another day. Right now, she needed to think of a way to keep the blonde interested in practicing the lowest level of sealing: calligraphy.**

**"Well, why don't we get started on your calligraphy, Naruto-kun?" Saiken asked gently.**

"Do I have to?" the clone moaned, only to received a sharp look of disapproval from the slug. Once more, he saw one of her six-tails begin to rise and his back began hurt from the memory of being hit by the rokubi. He glupped and started rubbed his back unconsciously.

"Well, I better start getting to it then!" the clone said quickly. Almost immediately, he began walking in a direction away from the rokubi. Saiken merely smirked at his antics. It looked like brute force worked just fine with the young blonde. Then, the clone stopped and her smirk vanish. What was it this time?

"Ah, Saiken?" Naruto asked.

**"What's the problem, Naruto-kun?" she asked.**

"How do I get scrolls and ink brushes here?" he asked. This caused the six-tails to sweat-dropped in exasperation.

_Back with Kurama_

**"Too slow," Kurama said, as he swept Naruto's leg from behind. "Stand firm! He who moves like the wind is victorius in battle, he who remains like a pillar falls!"  
><strong>

Growling, Naruto got up once more before charging. Lunch had been a meagre ration of fish, eggs and wild berries that he had somehow managed to forage. Now, he was hungry, tired and very angry at Kurama for putting him through this torture called training. If only he could just managed to catch him unaware but the damn fox was way to fast. It was approaching evening soon and he had yet to even touch the fox. Naruto realised, for the first time in his life, that it was possible to break a person physically, mentally and spiritually, all at the same time. Right now, the only thing on his mind was ramen but he knew Kurama wouldn't let him anyway near Ichiraku's and he got the more angrier at that thought.

Calm down, he thought. Getting angry won't achieve anything. I am the master of my emotions, not the other way around. There must be a way to catch the ninetails without him realising it...but how? Just as the thought was going through his mind, a clone dispersed itself in his consciousness and he grimaced temporarily at the massive influx of information. Then, a grin split through his face as a new idea ran through his mind.

"Ha...ha...you wouldn't be standing there now if...I could use ninjutsu, sensei..ha..ha," Naruto panted. Take the bait, take the bait, he thought.

**"Are you questioning my training regiment?" Kurama mocked.  
><strong>

"No, I'm just saying that you wouldn't stand a chance if I could use techniques like my Rasengan," Naruto replied. "but if you're scared..."

Kurama growled at that.

**"It matters not! Fine, come at me with everything you've got! It won't matter the least," Kurama said, a taunting smirk on his face.  
><strong>

This was music to Naruto's ears. Charging a Rasengan in his right hand, he rushed at Kurama. Just as he was about to reach Kurama, however, the clone disappeared from his point of view. Gancing around, the fox was nowehere to be seen. Quickly, he dissipated the Rasengan and formed the signature handsign.

"Kage Bushin no jutsu!" Naruto called out. Twenty clones appeared and began dispersing. After five minutes of futile searching, Naruto was about to disperse the clones when he felt each of them vanish as memories of them being taken out by an unseen assailant raced through his mind. How does he move that fast! he thought. Before he could even turn around, he felt himself pinned to the ground by hand, with a kunai at his throat.

**"I thought I forbade you from using Shadow clones?" Kurama asked, the smirk now evident on his face. "I know the real you is hiding out there. Now come out!" **

At that, another Naruto rushed out from the surrounding foilage to engage the Kyubi in combat. Before he could make contact however, Kurama felt the chakra channeling from the Naruto he was holding. His eyes widened at the technique he was using.

"Sorry sensei but you asked for it! **Magnet released: Cursed Seal of the Tanuki's Burial!" **Naruto shouted. Immediately Shukaku's cursed seals were released from his hand and because Kurama was still holding onto him, the seals immediately wrap themselves around the ninetails. Stunned for a moment at the turn of events, Kurama immediately regained his composure and jumped back from the cursed markings but the damage was done, the cursed seals merely flowed from Naruto's outstretch palm to Kurama's clone body of Naruto, leaving a trail of writing arching in the air. Knowing that he was in a very dangerous situation, Kurama manifested a fox tail and reached out to grab the Naruto which had just emerged from the surrounding foilage.

**"Tell your clone to dispersed this technique, Naruto," he said. Immediately the Naruto he was grasping smiled before vanishing in a puff of smoke. Kage bushin! But how?! A Feint?! He's never done this before! Kurama thought. **

"I think you're mistaking one thing, sensei," said the real Naruto, who was maintaining the magnet realease. "I had you fooled the entire time."

**"Yes, I can tell," Kurama replied hotly. "Usually the real you would be the one to emerged from the foilage..."**

"And that's why I chose NOT to this time." This earned a smile of approval from the fox.

**"Well, well, well. It seems you can learn new tricks afterall." Naruto grined at the remark. Things were looking up. "but if you think this level of fuinjutsu is going to stop me, then you've got another thing coming!"**

The smirk immediately disappeared as Naruto felt the seal crumbling when Kurama released more of his chakra. The manifested tail was now gone but that didn't mean that Kurama was any less dangerous. In fact, he was even more dangerous now at how things were going. For one thing, the fox hated being out-foxed. For another, he hated being showed up in front of his fellow bijuus. And lastly, Kurama hated the fact that was baited by Naruto. The fact that Naruto had managed to achieve all said things was going to spell his downfall if he didn't do something fast. Afterall, the bijuus all love holding grudges.

**"I'll give you a hand this time!" Shukaku whispered in his mind. **

Thanks Shukaku! Naruto thought. Immediately the seal tightened around Kurama as Naruto pumped more chakra into his seal.

**"Asking the Tanuki for help?" Kurama asked, with his eyebrows raised. "I'm disappointed in you, Naruto. I suggest you give up now. That bag of sand won't be able to help you any much greater than this. And even..._this_ level of sealing is pitiful compared to what your old man could do."**

"NEVER!" Naruto/Shukaku thundered. This wasn't training anymore. For all three of them, it was now a battle of injured pride, retribution and recompense. The seal began tightening even more but Kurama merely shrugged at the duo's antics. It was time to show them why he was feared at the strongest of the tailed beasts.

"**I was hoping you said that," the fox answered in a sadistic tone. Slowly, he flexed his shoulders, causing a majority of the sursed seals to disappear. This earned snarls from both Naruto and Shukaku. **

**"You're running of chakra, kid!" Shukaku told the boy. "You won't be able to hold the blasted fox for much longer!"**

I know! I hate to say this but I'll have to use his own chakra against him! Naruto thought back. Just as he was about to summon the Kyubi's chakra, he felt a mental block. He could feel the chakra but he couldn't access it. To make matters worse, Kurama was now grinning at him as the fox removed the rest of the seal with a lazy flick of a finger.

**"I think not, Kit"** **the ninetails said. "You forget that you use my chakra out of _my own goodwill_. And I tire of this little game." **

With that, he reappeared behind Naruto and delivered a shattering kick to the youth's back, causing said blonde to crash into a nearby tree. Grunting, Naruto strated getting up but immediately fell back down as every muscle in his body screamed in agony. Kuram watched silently at the teen's antics. Once more, he struggled to get onto his feet. Sage mode was out of the question. Similarly, he had squandered all of his chakra and stamina on mastering the tail beast's skills as well as his **sacred chains**. There wasn't much that he could do, especially when Kurama prevented him from using his chakra. However, for the blonde, quitting was out of the question.

**"Stay down!" Matatabi muttered.**

**"You've done enough!" Isobu whispered.**

**"You can't win!" Kokuo said with a tone full of concern.**

**"He's too strong," Goku added.**

**"They're right Naruto," Choumei stated. "You know it yourself!"**

**"That's enough! You'll only hurt yourself if you keep fighting like this Naruto-kun!" Saiken murmured.**

**"Why? Why do you try so hard?" Gyuki asked. "Even when you know you'll fail?"**

"I won't give up," Naruto said, standing. "Because that's my ninja way!"

**"Unyielding faith," Shukaku whispered.**

**"Unbreakable spirit," Matatabi said.**

"**True determination..." Isobu started.**

**"...Indomitable will [lol!]" continued Goku.**

**"Unrelenting resolve," muttered Kokuo. **

**"Unbelievable..." Saiken and choumei stated**

**"Where does he get this power from?" Gyuki asked.**

**As the tail beast stared at Naruto, a sillthoute formed behind him and they all thought the same thing, "Grandpa Rikudou...?"**

_Ba_ck _in the real world_

**"I admire your resolve, Kit" Kurama commented. "But this is where I draw the line." **

With that, the fox appeared in front of the blonde before slamming his palm face up onto the blonde's chin before catching him as he fell to the ground.

**"You've proven once more why you are the true legacy of the old man," Kurama said at the now unconscious blonde. "But you've still got a long way to go."**

* * *

><p>Chapter end<p>

Hi guys, thanks so much for the reviews and special thanks to Ryuujin96 and xxXYoumakemeSmileXxx for suggesting japanese names for me :D

Please review on whether you want more training shenanigans or a move on to the juicy part of the story guys! And I apologise for messing up this chapter [it was not as polished as I hoped], graduation came along while I was half-way through it and hence it got a bit too rocky from the middle part to the end. I might have to rewrite this chapter later T.T


	8. Chapter 8

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO IN ANY WAY.**

**Author's note: Hi again guys and thanks so much for the nice reviews! Once more, I would like to thank Ryuujin96 and xxXYoumakemeSmileXxx** **for the Japanese names. I'm still a bit short on Japanese female names**, **so if you want to make a few contributions to this story, please don't hesitate to include some! **

**On a more serious note; Okay, so I lied about the next chapter being ages and ages away...but I hope no one's complaining . I've have some free time now so I decided that I might as well get down and write before I go away on a long travelling trip. I won't be able to publish more chapters until I get home and that will be on the 29th of July. Also, I might as well get to squeezing as much of the training done as soon as possible because I really want Hina to start appearing! It's taking me much longer than I expected.**

**So, for the first time ever, I'm making a poll; would you guys like a little one-shot of what's going to happen between Sakura, Naruto and Hinata? I promise you that sparks will fly and there will be a lot of fluffy goodness [sorry if you hate those but I'm a hopeless romantic .]. However, BE FOREWARNED. IF I DO DECIDE TO WRITE THE ONE-SHOT, IT WILL BE A MASSIVE SPOILER FOR A LATER CHAPTER. So I'll leave it up to the readers to decide. SO CHOOE WISELY.**

**Anyway, back to the story!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 5: Training part 3<strong>

_At an unknown location, at an unknown time..._

_"You're a disgrace to this family!" a tall man said, his face hidden from behind veiled curtains, as he stared down at the prostrated figure in front of him._

_"Father! P-please., give me another chance," the prostrated figure cried out, her midnight blue hair covering her face as tears ran down her eyes. It wouldn't do to show the man anymore weakness. If anything, he'll hate her all the more for it. "...O-onegai."_

_"You expect me to forgive you after this?!" the figure continued. She couldn't see it but the figure was shaking with rage from behind the curtain. "Burn this words into your head...YOU ARE NO LONGER WELCOME HERE. Now leave at once. I renounce you as my daughter."_

_"F-father..." the young girl was sobbing now. "P-please. At least...let m-me say goodbye to the rest of our family..."_

_"No," the figure replied. 'Everything has been settled. You will leave at once. I have no use for someone as pathetic as you. Not only did you fail a simple task, you had the guts to bring down an entire army based on your stupidity! Now get out of my sight." _

_The young girl of six got up and flashed a watery smile, even though it was full of sorrow and regret. "No matter what happens...I will always love you father. I-I h-hope that you'll be able to forgive your f-foolish daughter for this mistake."_

_With that, the yound girl turned and rushed out of the room, tears streaming down her face. Her sobbing, no longer controlled. Just as she reached the door, a white flash before her eyes._

"Ah!" called out a young girl of sixteen. Realising she was in a bed, she breathed slowly, in an effort to calm herself. Almost immediately, a sound could be heard from outside. A second later, the door to her room was slid open as an armoured samurai rushed in, with her sword drawn.

"My lady!" the samurai called out. "Is everything alright?"

The young teen turned to face the samurai before giving a tired smile.

"I'm f-fine Hanako but thank you for w-worrying about m-me," she said in a soft voice. Slowly, the young girl motioned for her friend to come over to the edge of the bed. "You were on shift yesterday. I-it's n-not fair for y-you to keep watch over me m-most of t-the time..."

Hanako sighed before moving over to her mistress's bed. Wordlessly, she took off her helmet to reveal the face of a stunning beauty under the moonlit room. "It's fine, my lady, I was the one who requested this."

"P-please. Just H-hina is fine, Hanako-chan," the young girl said. Unconsciously, she began to push her two index fingers together in an effort to calm herself.

My God, it's like Hina-chan gets cuter everyday, Hanako thought. Sighing once more, she flashed a quick smile before grabbing her friend in a tight hug and rubbing their cheeks together in an affectionate manner.

"Ep!" the young girl called out, at her friend's sudden boldness. Once more, Hanako sighed at her friend's reaction.

"How can someone _like you_ [MASSIVE TROLL FACE!] not have a special someone, Hinata-sama?! [Author's note: I KNOW RIGHT?!]" Hanako said. "You'll be a barren old maid by the time you decide to get a man!"

"Uh...um...ah...Watashi...ah,' Hinata stuttered, trying to find a good response to her friend's answer.

"Hah! I bet all the guys must have died from cuteness overload at your reaction, Hinata-sama!" Hanoko laughed. Teasing her dear friend of ten years was never a dull moment. To her credit, Hinata turned away from her samurai friend, in an effort to hide her rapidly reddening features.

"Y-you were t-the one who scared off all those g-guys the other day Hanako-chan," she replied meekly. At that, Hanako snorted.

"Please, those..._pigs_ [YES I AM A GUY IF YOU READERS WERE WONDERING IF I'M A GIRL AND I APPROVE OF THIS TERM] only had one thing on their mind," she growled. "I won't let them defile the purity of a precious flower such as yourself."

"A-ano...they...they were looking at y-you, Hanako-chan," Hinata replied softly. "A-afterall, you're prettier t-than m-me..."

"You're too hard on yourself," Hanako sighed. "I might be a stunner but you dwarfed me in comparison, Hinata-sama."

"mmm"

So...bad dream?" Hanako asked. Hinata nodded softly. In response, she felt Hanako arms wrapped around her protectively.

"Hey, its alright. I'm here for you. I won't let anyone or anything harm you. I give you my word, my lady."

"I-I kn-know you will, Hanako-chan." Wordlessly, the two sat down in silence at this gesture of friendshp between them. A moment later, Hanako got up and began putting on her helmet.

"I must go, my lady but just give me a shout whenever you need me." With that, the samurai left, leaving the young girl alone to brood over her thoughts.

I wonder if I should tell her about my other dream, Hinata thought. Then she decided against it; Hanako had a strict policy when it came to guys, dating and her. However, something told her that the young blonde she kept seeing in her dreams would start to appear in her life very soon. Who is he? she wondered. And what a kind smile...for some reason, I feel myself pulled towards him. I hope we can meet soon.

She wasn't to know about it but her wish was about to be granted soon...

_At the hidden waterfall location in Konoha_

"Oh..." a young blonde groaned, as he woke up from his sleep. "My aching body...teme...that fox was trying to kill me..."

**"I heard that," a voice called out from behind him. **Naruto turned around to face his clone staring at him. Grimacing, he positioned himself into a sit before taking a look around him. It was late evening from the way the sky was lighting up.

"How long was I out?" he asked cautiously.

**"About two hours, give or take," Kurama answered. Slowly, the clone reached into the fire and pulled out a baked fish, before tossing it to the blonde. "I took the liberty to catch you some food while you were out cold."**

"Thank you," Naruto replied. Immediately, he sank his teeth into the fish. It was heavenly, to say the least.

**"Naruto..." Kurama started. The blonde gave him a questioning look at that.** **Kurama braced himself for what he was about to say next.**

**"Naruto, I won't say what you did wasn't brave...but it was foolish. You don't just rush at your opponents when you're half-dead from exhaustion. That's insane!"**

Naruto frowned at that. "Are you saying I should just give up?!"

**"No!" Kurama answered hastily. "But you shouldn't make a rash decision just to save your pride! Had I been serious, you would have been dead!"**

"What did you want me to do then? Surrender?!"

**Kurama flinched at that. "In that situation...yes."**

"You're so full of #$% you know that Kurama," Naruto asnwered. If he was angry before, he was majorly pissed now. "I bet you wouldn't have done it when you were in my shoes, you damn fox!"

**"HOLD YOUR TONGUE _BOY_," Kurama roared. "I didn't want to say this but listen and listen well. What happened during the fourth war was not based on your skills as a ninja. It was pure luck what you did back then! If you can't tell when you're outmatched, you can't defend yourself. If you can't defend yourself, you'll die! You don't just rushed in like an idiot asking for death! Do you know worried we were during the fourth war?!"**

Naruto merely glared in response. He hated what the fox had to say but he knew every word that came out of its mouth was true.

**"The point is that unlike the fourth war, we were there to help you. Even then, it took an extreme amount of luck to achieve what we did and luck won't always be on our side. Besides...we might not always be there for you..." **

"What do you mean?" A horrified Naruto asked.

**"Fear. Good, a large amount of it will teach you how to look after that sad life of yours!" Kurama growled. Then seeing the worried look on the blonde, he continued in a milder tone, "Look Kit, we won't ever leave you seeing as we're sealed inside of you. But what happens if someone managed to find away to release this seal? What if he managed to get rid of the remnants of Shukaku, Matatabi, Isobu, Goku, Kokuo, Saiken, Choumei and Gyuki? It seems unlikely but its not impossible!"**

Naruto remained silent at the remark. Truth be told, the thought had never crossed his mind but now that Kurama said it, he was beginning to get worried.

**"You must remember that you don't hold just your life anymore," Kurama continued. "You hold all of our lives Naruto, and we care deeply for your wellbeing. You may think pride is important but what good is pride if you lie dead with a pool of blood running out of your body?"**

**"I know what pride does to you, Naruto. If it wasn't for pride I wouldn't have lost my freedom. If it wasn't for pride, I wouldn't have been controlled by Uchiha Madara," Kurama said bitterly. "But then again...if it wasn't because of my pride, I wouldn't have met you."**

"Where are you going with this?" Naruto asked. This conversation was getting too complicated for his liking. That plus the fact that the rest of the bijuus were refraining from interfering in thier conversation must have met that they had discussed this while he was unconscious.

**"What I'm trying to say is that like with most things, there are two sides to it," Kurama explained. "Having some pride is good as it prevents other people from using you like a disposable tool. However, likewise, having too much pride blinds you to the truth of things. You must understand that as the successor of the Old Man, you cannot let your pride blind you from your true goal. Look at what happened to Kaguya!"**

"I...understand," Naruto said lamely. "I guess I'm just not worth out to be this child of the prophecy afterall..."

**"NO!" Kurama snarled. "You must never think that! Doubt yourself and it'll be all over. You've made a mistake but an honest one at that. At the very least, you had the decency to admit to it. That is what separates you from that Uchiha brat!'**

When Naruto remained silent, Kurama pressed on, **"If anything, remember this: we of the bijuuu nine are very proud of you Naruto. Regardless of all your flaws and mistake. We will always accept you for who you are and we will do whatever it takes to protect you. But don't loose sight of yourself. Afterall, you didn't win a war on your own." **

A single tear flowed down the youth's cheek at the foxs' words. "Thank you...dad."

**"Just don't die on me...son," Kurama replied gruffly. "It's too late to continue now but we'll continue on tomorrow."**

"Will it be the same routine again?" Naruto asked.

**"Not exactly," Kurama replied. "I'll be training you on ****_The_**** S****_leeping Dragon_**** stance but ur training time will be halfed. Saiken told me that you'll need to work on your calligraphy and she wouldn't take no for an answer."**

**"Likewise, I want one clone to continue working with Shukaku on your magnet release. There's still a lot of improvement that needs to be done there. Also, I want another clone to work with your chakra chains with Gyuuki, one clone to look through the Uzumakis' kinjutsus list and one more clone to start training with Matatabi." **

"Why so many clones? Didn't you say it was dangerous?"

**"Well, I was mistaken," Kurama snapped in a voice that demanded silence. "That is unless you're scared..."**

Naruto smirked at that. "Bring it!"

**Well, that turned out better than I expected, Kurama thought. "You asked for it..."**

_The next day_

A certain pink haired kunoichi was getting very angry at a certain blue-eyed blonde now. Well, maybe angry wasn't the word she would use. If anything, the word would be _restless_. Sakura hadn't seen Naruto for almost two days now and she was beginning to get very annoyed at his antics. Was he angry with her? Well, he shouldn't be! She was the untouchable flower in Konoha and he knew it. But maybe...just maybe she went a bit too far.

Damn thoughts, sakura thought to herself. Why should I feel sorry for the baka? He knows that I'm too good for him. So what if he saves the entire world? Sasuke played a part it in as well. Besides, just because he's the saviour of the world or whatever, it doesn't mean that I have to date the baka for it! Damn Ino too! Why must I consider his feelings?! He never considered mine! Always asking me out for dates when he knew I wouldn't go out with him! Grr! Just thinking about him makes me want to clobber the damn baka! Where is he?! I need to relieve some stress!

**Author's note: **[I'm not bashing Sakura here but I think that's what she would say from her point of view. Remember there will be NO BASHING in this fic. But then again...I don't know how to actually bash a character]

Cursing slightly, she made her way to the hospital when she stopped in mid-walk. If he was avoiding her, then she would visit him personally to drill some sense into the blonde baka. With the new thought in mind, she made her way to his apartment.

"Naruto," she called, knocking on his door. There was no answer.

"Naruto! Open up or I'm coming in!" she said once more. Again there was no response. A tick mark began to appear on her forehead. "All right, that's it! I'm coming in!"

Saying so, she balled up chakra into her fist before slamming it into the door, causing it to shatter into a billion pieces. Stepping slightly into the apartment, she walked over to the kitchen, then the bathroom and the bedroom. There was no one there. In fact, it look vacated from the looks of things with many scrolls gone from the study, the fridge emptied out and the made made up. Mulling over her thoughts, she began to walk out of the apartment when she heard someone called out to her.

"There she is Anbu-san!" A young lady in her early twenties called out, pointing at her. "She's the one who broke down Naruto-sama's door!"

"Yeah, I saw her did it as well!' another guy said. "I also saw her hit Naruto-sama's head! Arrest her!"

A small group of people were gathering outside of Naruto's apartment. Did I say crowd? I meant MOB. A mob of people were standing outside of Naruto's apartment now.

What in the-Sakura wondered when her memory caught up to her.

#$% ! She thought. Breaking Naruto's apartment door down when he was still hated by the village was never a problem. But breaking his front door down when he saved the village from Pain and the whole ninja world? Well, that was a HUGE mistake.

"I can explain," Sakura said nervously.

"Well, you better start, Haruno-san," the anbu replied steely.

Oh great, _another_ Naruto fan, she thought. Thinking quickly, she said, "Naruto was supposed to have an appointment for his shot today but he ran away and I was sent to get him for Tsunade-sama."

At that, the mob began dispersing. It was just a simple matter of misuderstanding, that was all. However, the guy was still looking at her funny.

"Mind explaining the head hitting then, Haruno-san?" he asked angrily. Once again, the mob began gathering together.

Damn this stubborn old fool! Sakura thought. "It's called shock therapy. I hit his head because I wanted to get rid of his headache."

At that the mob disappeared completely. Seeing that, Sakura heaved a sigh of relief. Note to self, she thought. Never break down the baka's door ever again. Damn that baka! I'm so going to pummel him when I meet him! Grr, if only I could get my fist at him. A cough broke her thoughts, as she saw the anbu looking at her.

"You'll still have to pay for this, Haruno-san," the anbu told her. When she looked like she was about to argue back, he continued, "Or do you want me to inform Tsunade-sama about this?"

At that, the pink-haired kunoichi sighed in defeat. Reaching in to her pocket, she pulled out a rather fat purse before handing the correct amount of money to the anbu. Okay, maybe I did over react when I smash his door [you thnk?] but why didn't the baka told me how expensive the repairs was?! she thought. Oh yeah, that's right... he loves me...

For the first time ever, as she left for her rounds that morning, she began to feel regret at treating the blonde with such utter contempt. The next time she met the blonde, she promise to give him a proper apology for what she had done in the past. However, her pride wouldn't let her feel remorse at her actions of rejecting the blonde down so bluntly. Yet...somewhere deep inside her, she began to worry about that decision. What Ino had said before had began to worm itself into her head. What if he did found someone else?

That's impossible, Sakura thought. Nobody would want that baka and besides he'll always love me...right? Sakura didn't know the answer to that last question but she hoped and prayed that things would just stay the way they were now.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter end<strong>

Sorry for no actions on this chapter guys . I'm planning to wrap up training in the next chapter and the plot can finally continue! Yay! It'll be quite some time before the next chapter though since I'll be travelling for a bit but if I do manage to find the time [as well as a wifi hotspot, I'll make sure to upload as soon as possible] I don't know if you guys love my story but I love writing and I just can't stop writing!

Don't forget to review and leave your votes in the reviews guys XD Until next time!


	9. Chapter 9

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO.**

**Author's note: Sorry it took so long for this update guys, got a bit side track by Naruhina: An Unexpected Reunion. It's just done however, so if you want come fluffy scenes, I recommend checky that out since the reviews were generally favourable! Anyway, there's not much for me to talk about here since I'm still a bit blurry from the plot after spending so much time and effort on An Unexpected reunion. I try to cram in as much action so let's just get to it!**

**Anyway, ON TO THE NEXT CHAPTER!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 9: Training continues<br>**

_In Naruto's mindscape,_

**"Alright kitten," Matatabi purred at the clone in front of her. "I'm sure Shukaku filled in all the basics of the bijuus abilities for you, right?"  
><strong>

"Hai, sensei!" the clone replied, eager to start the training. Naruto may have finished his bijuu training with Shukaku but the tanuki was still drilling him on that aspect of perfecting the one-tail's abilities. While this certainly helped put a stump on the blonde's progression considering the amount of chakra being used for perfecting said skill, it helped advance his training in other ways; namely chakra control. Now, it was no surprise to each of the nine bijuus as well as to Naruto on how horrendous his chakra control actually was but Shukaku aimed to put a stop to that. Similarly, the Ichibi had begun re-training the young Uzumaki on how to better control and perfect his wind release. They were more than a few jutsus in the one-tails respertoire that he was only all too eager to teach the blonde but that would have to be a discussion for another time. In the meantime, another clone had been summoned to start learning the ability of the two tails seeing as their time was rather limited and the bijuu's jinchuriki needed as much time and resources in order to prepare their host for his upcoming trial ahead.

**"Okay then," the two tails continued. "Well, I bet you're going to love my tail-beast skill kitten. It consists of two abilities. Like the tanuki, I will be able to grant you a gekkei genkai in the form of Swift Release. With this ability, you will be able to move faster than the wind itself! Be lighting incarnate! Even your father will fall in comparison to the rise of Konoha no nidaime kiiroi senko!"**

[Author's note: From now on, jutsus will be underlined and important explanations will be in Italics, so pay careful attention to the _italics_ if you're still confused]

"Ah, great thing sensei...but?"

**"Yes?" the two tails growled slighty at being interupted.**

"What does the Swift Release actually do, sensei?" the Naruto clone asked. This time the two tails berated herself for missing out on such an important point.

**"Sorry about that, I tend to get a bit carried away sometimes..." she coughed. "Anyway, the Swift Release is a gekkei genkai that allows you to move at tremendous speed. By combing its fundamental elemental natures of wind and lightning, both of which focus on speed and power, you essentially create a jutsu fully focused on travelling at extreme speed for both offensive and evasive purposes. And because you travel at such extreme speeds, each of your blows effectively become a tremendous force meant for incapacitating your opponents, either as finishing moves or...deathblows."**

Naruto's eyes widened at that. Once more, the bijuus techniques sounded too good to be true! He was beginning to understand why the five nations coveted such powers for themselves but something seemed a bit...off. Recalling what Itachi once said to him, he began to wonder the drawback of such a dangerous power.

"What exactly are the drawbacks, Matatabi-sensei?" he asked cautiously. At that, the bakeneko raised an eyebrow at her young host.

**"You're sharper than you look, kitten," she purred affectionately. "I'll begin by explaing the pros and cons of my powers then. You see, unlike most gekkei genkai that focused on mising elemental affinities toegether, which are essentially ninjutsu in nature, the Swift Release is in essence a taijutsu one."**

"Go no."

**"Now, Naruto...have you ever seen anyone simulatenously use two different elemental natures at once without the necessity of shadow clones?" Matatabi continued.**

"What do you mean?"

**"Let me put it this way. Using only your original body, could you actually summon both fire and wind elemental chakras at the same time?" Matatabi asked. This time, the blonde frowned at her words.**

"Well...no but only because I've never tried invoking fire chakra before. Surely someone like Kakashi-sensei would be able t-" he began when the cat shook her head.

**"Nope. Not happening Kitten," Matatabi explained. "You see, your body can only invoke one specific type of elemental chakra at any one time. Unless of course you use a clone but that's an entirely different concept. That's because now, you essentially have TWO bodies; your clone and your own. Each of which is able to invoke a different elemental chakra but not both at the same time."**

"What about gekkei genkais?!"

**"Ah, I was hoping you asked that," she mused. "Bloodline limits are considered out of the norm from the five basic elemental natures. Unlike the basic five, you essentially combine two into one, creating a totally new element, or in the case of Swift Release, you take the aspect in which the two elements represent the most and merge them into something entirely new; either taijutsu, genjustu or ninjutsu. Be as that may however, _it is still an elemental chakra_. Key words, kitten; _one_ new elemental chakra, _not two_."**

"So, it's totally impossible to use two different elements at the same time?"

**"Exactly," the bakeneko continued. "Perhaps it's because of this restriction that you humans created clones to help overcome this limitation. Although there are exceptions to the rules that I'm not entire certain of. An example would be the Shodai's wood clone. In theory, he could use a different element because it is a clone but at the same time, he's only ever use wood techniques when summoning his clones. Maybe he's just as restricted in that regards seeing as I've never seen Ashura's previous incarnation use either water or earth based jutsus from his Mokuton bushin..."**

"I lost you there sensei..." the clone groaned, holding his head in his hands. It seemed that the more he learned from the bijuus, the more they let on, on what they really know. Despite this however, it seemed that they weren't going to be divulging all that information anytime soon. If anything, the bijuus themselves knew just how dangerous and corrupting knowledge and power could really get. However, they also knew that Naruto was more than worthy to inherit the powers they were about to bestow upon him, albeit slowly seeing that too rushed an increase in both his talents and abilities might leave him just as corrupted and power hungry as a certain Uchiha before his redemption.

**Once more, Matatabi smiked. "I apologise, Naruto-san. But tell me, what's the main disadvantage of the Swift Release from all that I've told you about?"**

"Hmm," the clone pondered before it hit him suddenly. "You can't use any elemental jutsu's when you're in such a state!"

**"Exactly," Matatabi replied. "Most ninjutsu are essentially based on elemental manipulation if you recall correctly. So, when you do use Swift Release, you'll most likely be limiting yourself to taijutsu and genjutsu. Of course, ninjutsus such as the Multiple Shadow Shuriken Technique don't actually come under this category seeing as they're not elemental in nature. Yin and yang release, however, do come under this limitation, I'm afraid."**

"Then what's the point of such a limiting ability sensei?!" the clone muttered exasperately. "Why not just use the Body Flicker Technique? Ah...no offense..."

**This time, the bakeneko laughed, which completely unnerved Naruto. "You'll going to like this, Kitten. There are a lot of benefits from my gekkei genkai than that downgraded version you humans created called the Body Flicker. Chieftly, you don't actually need any hand seals to invoke my ability, although using the Boar seal might be helpful in the beginning to focus your chakra. All you need to do to activate it is just the desire to use it and you'll have it." **

"But a skilled shinobi can bypass the seal requirements for the body flicker technique given enough time to master the technique itself, sensei," he countered back.

**"I agree but what if I were to tell you that the Swift Release is almost indefinitely faster than the Body Flicker?"**

"I'm listening."

**Hee hee, knew he come around, Matatabi thought gleefully. Out of all the bijuus, the bakeneko was perhaps the most humble one. However what she did take pride it, she took them very seriously. Her abilities were definitely one of them, seeing as they were one of the only remaining momento that the Rikudou sennin left her with. Pressing on, she continued, "Similarly, the Body Flicker technique does have one more great flaw as oppose to the Swift Release. Countless times I have witness this flaw over the centuries, namely that when shinobi used it, they can travel at immensely fast speed, yes but only in _one direction_. This is why whever you need to change direction, it takes a toll on your chakra level, seeing as you have to _stop. _Change direction on where you want to go. _Activate it again_ and then to _maintain it at the speed_ you want to keep going at." **

"I never knew that..." Naruto pondered once more. Whatever Matatabi said to him did indeed made sense now that he look back and thought about all those times when he actually used the Body Flicker Technique. He never realised just how much the jutsu drained his chakra levels or why he felt slightly more exhausted than he was previously whenever he stopped or the times when he needed to deactivate the technique whenever his opponents changed directions but now that Matatabi's explanation shed light on the fundamental mechanisms of the technique, he began to see just how flawed it truly was. It was still a great ability to have and master no doubt, and numerous ninjas had became famous because of it but he was amazed that he never found out about it up till that very moment.

**"Of course you didn't Kitten," Matatabi began once more. "With that monstrous chakra of yours, you probably never realised just how much chakra you were actually squandering. However, every little improvement in your abilites helps in the ninja world. Now, my Swift Realease technique will not only bestow you the same speed as the Body Flicker but without the flaws. Also, not only is it faster than the body flicker but it also allows you to react, observe and fight back with near limitless speed. However, the downside is that despite this invaluable property, it also drains chakra at a much faster rate than the Body Flicker. Similarly, an opponent who is fast enough, is still able to catch you off-guard, as you aren't entirely _untouchable as the gekkei genkai makes you to be_."**

"This is a lot more complicated than I thought," the blonde answered back.

**"Exactly and why you need to be cautious when you're practising our powers, Naruto," Matatabi warned. "Remember, unlike shinobi who have the 'pure blood' necessary in invoking the kekkei genkai, you are just borrowing our powers. Consider it like that Kakashi guy wielding the sharingan. It was never his begin with and hence he will never be able to properly utilise it."**

"Does that apply to me as well?"

**"Not so, Kitten. You see, Grandfather Rikudou blessed us with these powers in the first place, so we are in essence the origin of elemental Kekkei genkai. Bloodline limits abilities are limited by just that; genetics. It is because of their genetics that they have the '_necessary chakra_' to invoke said nature. _Unlike us, which are in essence the pure form of the 'necessary chakra'_. However, as Shukaku tolde you before, it'll take some getting use to properly mixing your chakra with ours, as well as a lot of patience and relentless training but when you do achieve it, you'll know no limit to your abilities..."**

"Heh, let's get started then!" the blonde grinned, which the bakeneko responded in kind.

**"Indeed," Matatabi replied. "Now, to call upon the Swift Release is no different to that of Shukaku's Magnet Release. You need to be able to 'feel' my chakra inside of you, merge it with yours. However unlike Shukaku's power, you need to release the newly formed chakra to all parts of your body instead of channeling it straight into your palm."**

"I'm going to enjoy this," the clone answered. Already, he had begun to see the massive potential in mastering said ability...not too mention the numerous amount of pranks he could do without getting caught, literally.

**"As will I, Kitten."**

_At the hidden waterfall location,_

**Hmm, so you've seemed to have improved Naruto, Kurama thought as the blonde dodged a kick before truning around to block a surprise strike to his hand from the fox infused clone. Retreating to the safety of the forest, the fox clone disappeared preparing to ambush the young Uzumaki from a safe distance. As Naruto galnce around carefully, he suddenly felt an uncomfortable sensation coming from his left, before raising his left arm to parry the oncoming blow from the astonished clone. **

**"Impressive!" Kurama stated, before jumping back a few feet. "You've improved tremendously in just a single day. Tell me...how did you know?"**

"I don't," Naruto panted. "I just...sort of felt something from my left and before I knew it, you were there, right in front of me."

**It seems the Kit's begun to learn how to use my sensing abilities without even knowing it, Kurama thought grimly. I was hoping to teach him that but this will have to do, I suppose. "Let's see how you try dodging this!"**

In the blink of an eye, Kurama lauched himself straight at the teen with all forms of kicks, punches as well as a series of complicated and perfectly coordinated stunts and movements aimed at precise locations of the boy's body, meant to stunned him in one single submissive movement. Unfortunately, just as he was about to land the first hit, the blonde reached out his right arm to catch the first strike, before retaliating with one of his own. The blow caught the ninetails by surprise but he got back up with lightning fast speed and aimed a kick back at the young Uzumaki. And because Naruto was just as equally surprised by his sudden development, he barely had any time to defend against the kick, causing to stumble onto the ground, holding his sides in agony.

"Itei..." Naruto groaned, in a slumped up position on the floor.

**Unbelievable, the fox thought. He truly is Ashura's reincarnation. To be able to improve this much in just a single day is no mean feat. Naruto...just how strong are you?**

**"Well, you're beginning to get the basics of the Sleeping Dragon stance nailed down, Naruto," Kurama started as he extended an arm to help the teen up. "You've finally managed to react properly to my attacks, although you're physical attributes are still far below what I consider acceptable for it."**

"Isn't there any faster way to learn this damn stance?!" he growled back. "I'm going to be dead by the time the weeks over."

**"Unfortunately no," Kurama answered back. "Nothing beats hardwork and sheer effort, Naruto. Now back on your feet!"**

And so the day progress in the following manner, with Kurama teaching the Uzumaki the next level of stance borrowed by Minato from the numerous different forms of taijutsu styles that Dai had taught him all those years ago. Given the fact that most of them consisted of extremly difficult and complex moves with require both a high level of tolerance and balance that even the blonde struggled with, it came as little of a surprise that by lunchtime, Naruto was hurting in places he never knew existed as well as how much he was dreading the higher and much more difficult level of complex moves the fox would teach him. However, thinking back to all that he had learn from the ninetails, he couldn't help but smirk at just how much progress he had made in just twenty four hours, even if the only thing he managed to nail down was a simple somersault in the air. This was because he was finally getting the hang of his father's infamous stance, although he still had a very long way to go to be consider adept at using it.

In the meantime, progress with Shukaku was painfully slow as the clone seems to have developed a sort of mental block when it came to properly utilising chakra control and distribution. For the past four hours since the day had begun, Naruto had made absolutely little to no progress what-so-ever in trying to cut down his chakra consumption, although, according to the Tanuki, his understanding and excution of the Magnet release had improved by leaps and bounds, hough this was hardly surprising since four hours into the day accounted for at leasts a few months if not years in Naruto's mindscape. However, the clone dreaded what the original would feel later on, since that vast improvement in technique excution came with a similar if not bigger price; the mental strain at being yelled at by an angry tanuki along with pressure in trying to hone such a technique over such a long period of time. Despite this, the tanuki was a very demanding teacher with very high expectations and was little more than angry that his student had not managed to improve his chakra control despite the absurd amount of time he was being given.

_In Naruto's mindscape,_

**"C'mon kid! We've been at this since forever!" Shukaku howled at the blonde. "Stop using so much damn chakra!"**

"I'm trying!" the clone growled back. Taking a deep breath, the clone tried once more before forcing himself to use half as much chakra as he had before to bind down the Kurama clones which Shukaku had once more summoned to be used as target practice. Without the chakra restraint, Naruto could easily hold down all four foxes from the smallest to the largest, all at the same time with less effort this time round. However, excution of such a jutsu had consumed chakra that was more than enough to kill four fully grown shinobi men at their prime, or so the tanuki puts it and hence why Shukaku was going out of its way to limit the blonde's chakra consumption. So, with the clone trying as such, the excution proved at first successful when the cursed seals wrapped each of the four foxes and there was a huge sighed of relief from the clone...only for it to fail miserably when the cursed seals disappear a moment later, without so much as a single fox resisting back.

Trying to keep his temper in, Shukaku order the clone to try once more. And so the cycle repeated. Naruto tried with three quarters of his chakra. To seventh eights of his chakra. To ninth tenths of his chakra. All of which came to no avail. Next he tried cutting down chakra consumption by focusing on the smallest fox first, also to no avail. Then he tried practising on two foxes and then three but no matter how much or how hard he tried, the results were the same until finally tired out and frustrated, he slammed his fists into the floor of whatever it is that made up his mindscape, all patience and calm gone.

"THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!" he growled. "WHY?! WHY CAN'T I DO THIS?!"

**"Calm down kid," Shukaku sighed. Needless to say, the tanuki was just as angry as the blonde but couldn't find it in itself to yelled at its student, seeing as he had devoted so much time, effort and energy in trying to please his sensei. Maybe there was something that they didn't know about? Or maybe he was going about it the wrong way. Shukaku racked its brains, trying to find an answer. What was it that made Naruto so much different from all the other jinchuriki? Then it hit him; there was no other jinchuriki as Naruto. He was the first jinchuriki ever to house all nine bijuus inside of him, all at the same time. Maybe this was the reason! Nine different chakra natures, ten if you included Naruto's and eleven if you considered the fact that his chakra was actually that of Ashura's going through another cycle of rebirth was the answer. Was it possible for a body to even hold such an absurd amount of foreign chakra without collapsing? But the amount the blonde was using was ludicrious. Had it not been for Kurama's ever replenishing stock of chakra, the blonde wouldn't be able to fuel his repertoire of jutsu and techniques. If Shukaku didn't find an answer soon, taking the mission would be an absolute no for the blonde. Heck, Naruto shouldn't even begin to consider his career as a shinobi at this stage! **

**I've got to talk to the blasted fox about this, the tanuki thought silently. He's not going to like this...**

_With Gyuki,_

**"You've improved Naruto!" the eight tails called out as the Naruto clone in front of him managed to manifest a sixth chain in front of him, along with the five chains that he had previously mastered with. Opposed to what Shukaku had observed with the Uzumaki, Gyuki's training with Naruto on his clan's signature kekkei genkai, the Sacred Chains was astounding. While Naruto had originally started out with mastery of four chains, he had rapidly begun to extend the limit to five and before long after that, to six chains in little more than a few hours in the real world. In his mindscape however, this equated to at least a few weeks, if not months. Already Gyuki could tell that the blonde was a natural with his inherited bloodline but what made the octopus happy was that the blonde held a passion he had never seen before in B when he was practising with his lighting jutsu. Then again, Gyuki knew how much his clan's gekkei kenkai meant to Naruto, seeing as it was the only thing that tied him to a possible family line. Now, he was rapidly approaching the seventh chain limit.**

"Here come's lucky number seven," the clone cried, shortly manifesting the seventh line. However, despite his numerous advances, he wasn't skill enough yet to control such a number and before long the seventh chain disappeared. Shrugging at his lack of progress, he instead proceeded to extend his chains' reach as far as possible. The huge gap in time difference was not disappointing to his progress; whereas his limit was once fifty meters, he was now able to extend it to seventy five metres in length.

**Kurama's going to be happy with this, Gyuki smirked silently. Already he could tell that the young teen would be able to hit the eight chain limit by the time the week was over. After that, it would only be a matter of practising it as well as finding out ways on how to execute the technique effectively to his own fighting style.**

_With Matatabi,_

Similar to Shukaku's training regiment, Matatabi was astounded at just how fast Naruto's progress with her kekkei genkai actually, once he managed to overcome the hurdle of actually using it. Soon, the clone was zipping around his mindscape travelling at incredible speeds, although he was soon winded after only a few seconds. While Matatabi turned a blind eye to this at first, deciding that his maintanence of the Swift Release was more important than the chakra consumption, she soon realized that unless he managed to keep his chakra in check, he wasn't going to be able to utilize said jutsu for more than a few seconds.

**Well this is an interesting development, the bakeneko thought. Wonder how everything else is?**

_Back in the real world,_

**"Alright Naruto, it's four o'clock. I suggest we stopped here today," Kurama said. "Saiken said that you need time to practice on your calligraphy and that I can't take too much time from that."**

Having said so, the clonde dissipated, leaving an extremely bruised Uzumaki, groaning from the horrendous beating he had just received seconds ago. Forcing himself to an upright position, he mentally dissipated the clones, grimacing at the sudden influx of knowledge, before beginning the long treck to the village's library. You might be wondering why doesn't he just bother learning how to use shadow clones himself and the answer would be this; the blonde did indeed want to do so but Saiken had argued otherwise, citing that it was a cheap way of mastering such a subtle art. Despite this though, Kurama managed to settle on a compromise between the two; Naruto would practice his calligraphy together with his shadow clones but becauseof the risk of using too much shadow clones, he would only do so once the day's training regiment was over. That way, he would avoid using too many clones at any one time and at the same time satisfy Saiken's request somewhat.

So after a few minutes of hiking back to Konoha, we soon find our young hero sitted in a quiet corner of the library reading up a book on how to practise the anceint skill of drawing and writing words [since he hadn't actually learnt how to do so yet and hence, didn't need any clones in doing so], while he made another clone to start brushing up on edible plants in the wilderness and two more to start foraging for food in the forest. Kurama had vehemently objected to the last request but had grudgingly allowed after the blonde cited that he was never going to have enough time to prepare himself for the mission at hand should he attempt to do everything the ninetails wanted him to do.

With nothing to retaliate back on, everything proceeded quietly for Naruto. Before long, he began using his paintbrush and ink on the scroll that he had managed to secured the night before from his apartment and so our young hero began working tirelessly over the next few hours, finding a sort of comforting feeling to this sort of work that he had never experienced before. Soon, the Uzumaki blood in him began to awaken and like all Uzumakis, he was drawn into the deep world of the sealing arts, even if the first step didn't actually involved any form of sealing what-so-ever but it was the thought on what he was going to be able to do after that, which pushed him forward.

_With the bijuus,_

**"So, tell me. How goes Ashura's progress?" Kurama asked, with all the remaining bijuus turning towards Shukaku, Matatabi and Gyuki.**

**"Excellent," Gyuki replied with a smirk. "By the time the week's over, he'll be a full fledge master in his clan's kekkei genkai!"**

**"Remember though, brother, that this is only his mindscape and that he had yet to actually utilize it in the real world," Kokuo answered back. Gyuki nodded at that.**

**"Still, the boy's a natural and I doubt he would have any trouble with it, in here or out there." the eigth tails finished. Kurama nodded before turning to the other two.**

**"How about the two of you?" he asked.**

**"You're not going to like this Kurama," Shukaku started, stunning everyone with the respect he was showing to the ninetails. "But no matter what I do, he can't seem to be able to cut down his chakra usage at all! The amount that he's using is...life threatening!"**

**"Surely you jest, you damn racoon you," Kurama growled back. "Remember he is a jinchuriki, so it's not surprising seeing that he has absurd chakra control over something he had very little power over."**

**"I'm not fooling around!" the tanuki exclaimed. "Feel your chakra if you don't believe me."**

**When Kurama proceeded to do so, his face turned black very fast. "This is depressing. I had no idea how much he had just consumed over the sapn of a single day, no less."**

**"The same goes with me I'm afraid," Matatabi chipped in. "The kitten is an excellent student but he just can't seem to hold his chakra in check. No...more like he can't. It's like asking him to build a pillar into an already collapsing house."**

**[Asian idiom; go look it up if you're interested.]**

**"I might have a solution," Shoumei interuptted. "Did he use as much chakra as he did when he fought Kurama, Shukaku?" **

**"No," Shukaku replied stunned. "If anything...Naruto used less than he would have in here than he did out there. Far far less."**

**"Ah, I see," Saiken explained. "Our chakra in here must be interfering with his control. Whereas out there, he's only using his only chakra along with Kurama's."**

**"Problem solved then," dimissed Goku when Kurama glared at him. "What?"**

**"I had hoped it would come to this but it would seemed that his clone's will be practising in the real world now," Kurama growled. "Did the two of you at least managed to teach him your wind and fire release respectively.**

**"I did but it seemed that it would be little point in managing his chakra control seeing as he needs to actually practice it in the real world to actually gain some benefot from it"**

**"I didn't but I agree with Shukaku," Matatabi answered.**

**"Tsk, this sets my plans back a bit since he does not have as much time out there than he does in here," Kurama muttered back angrily. When the other tail beasts didn't reply, he pressed on, "*sigh* I guess the only thing would be to ask the Godaime to postpone the mission for at least another week." **

**"The kid won't like it," Gyuki put in.**

**"He'll hate it but I see no other alternative. Until the very least that he manages to master the Magnet and Swift release techniques, I won't be allowing him into our homeland." Kurama muttered. "His taijutsu training isn't going as smoothly as I hoped for myself."**

**Without any response to this, the bijuus brooded to themselves on how they were going to break the news to an unsuspecting Naruto.**

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><p>Chapter end<p>

That's a wrap guys. The next chapter should essentially end the training arc and finally move on with the storyline. I apologise for this part dragging on but I needed to find a way to explain all the different powers Naruto have without making too much of a mess up later.

Anyway please review and see you next time guys!


	10. Chapter 10

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO.**

**Author's note: **Hi again guys and as usual...YAY FOR MORE CHAPTERS! Sorry for the later than normal update but I've been having a lot of mental blocks lately. Unlike the previous chapters, there's not much for me to talk about this time, so let's just get right on to the next chapter!

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><p>Chapter 10: Preparation ends<p>

_At an unknown place at an unknown time,_

It was a late afternoon by the time the small carriage along with its unique troops of samurais and ninjas made its way into view. They were so very close to their destination but yet each and every one of the guards were ever vigilant as they kept both their eyes, ears and senses trained for anything out of the blue. Many times had they been caught unaware and yet each time they've managed to escape, but without a lingering piece of momento from their assailants; a scratch here, a scar there. Disfigurements such as these served to keep them on their toes for you were never completely sure when the next attack would be. In their line of work, a mistake usually carried a high price; death and worse...dishonour to your family and your clan but these were no ordinary guards. Hand picked and highly trained militants from the Moonlight Kingdom, they represent some of the greatest elite troops the world has ever seen. A fact that would, no doubt, put even the best anbu captains, elite jounin memebers and other talented ninja prodigies from the ninja world to shame. Yet for all their power; they lacked one crucial thing; numbers and it was this limitation that made their journey both hazardous and exhausting.

They had been many attacks on the group's objection of interest; the safeguarding of the carriaage that lie just a few feet away from them, protected in a circle like manner. Yet it wasn't just the carriage itself or the people within the carriage that they strove to protect. It was the hope of what the two occupants inside that could bring to the current unrest their once undivided kingdom was now facing. If anything, a divided kingdom was free for the taking and that was the very thing the people of the Moonlight Kingdom strove to avoid. Unity was always their best line of offense and defense from the outside world. Take that away and nations worldwide would be scrambling for a piece of their power, wealth and resources. A truly terrifying thought, indeed.

_Inside the carriage_

"F-father, how lo-long have w-we been tra-travelling?" the bluenette asked. The man who sat across from her gave her a small smile. He was in his late forties by the numerous grays that littered through his scalp, as well as the dark circles of lethargy that follows when one gets older. Yet, his aging eyes beheld a spark of youth that was rarely seen in a man of who was of similar age as him, along with the many scars that ran through his face like a jaggered forrest; it made him look younger than he really was. This was a man who had, against all odds, lived through numerous counts of assasination attempts as well as evading the grim reaper and lived to tell the tale.

"Shouldn't be too long now, child," he answered back. There were lines of worry etched across the old man's jolly face as he tried to hide his anxiousness. All too many times had they been forced to turn back all those times before as a result of planned ambushes and surprised attacks. Despite all this, however they were only more determined than ever to reached the goal that stood before them; Konoha and from there...home.

"My lord. My lady, we should be arriving in Konoha by noon time tomorrow," an armoured samurai called out from outside the carriage.

"Thank you, Hikaru," the older man replied before turning back to the bluenette before him. "How does it feel, Hina-chan...to be going back after all this time?"

The bluenette remained silent at that, before replying in a timid but firm tone,"I wo-would prefer n-not to but I m-must fulfill m-my d-d-duty."

"Hai," the man answered, although there were now lines across his forehead that wasn't there before. "Though I had hope for otherwise. No one should have to go through what you-"

Before he could finish his sentence however, there was a sharp sound of an explosion just outside the carriage, causing it to topple over.

"What in the-?!"

"Protect Mitsuo-sama!" a rough voice called out. "Hanako, Hikaru, you two look after the young mistress! We must not fail! Shinobi-to me, we engage as one!"

"For honour!" three voices called out after them, as the sound of steel clashing against steel could be heard from the outside.

I knew this was going to happen, Mitsuo thought grimly. Just when will we be able to get home?!

_At Konoha's public library, early morning._

Two anbu black ops entered the silent domain, intent on finding their target. As they prowled through the shelves and the tables, they finally located their target in the desolate and empty landscape that laid before them. Nodding slowly at his partner, they proceeded to approach the sleeping blonde slowly. It would never do to surprise the blonde; you just might get killed as a response. Slowly, they made their way towards him before the older of the two held out his hand to stop his younger comrade. Silently, he made the seal for the Bushin Jutsu and once the clone manifested, made it to tap the sleeping blonde ever so lightly on the shoulder.

The response was instanteneous, as the blonde growled angrily before grabbing the clone and holding him in a vice like grip before the two anbus.

"Who are you and what do you want?" he snarled, still too stunned to notice that the assailants before him were part of the same forces as he was. Almost immediately the two black oops members bowed down before him, placing one knee in front of the other.

"Our apologies Naruto-sama," the senior of the two stated, as he dispersed his clone. "We were ordered by Godaime-sama to fetch you. If this is not a good time..."

"No, it's fine," Naruto answered back. "I was just shocked..."

"Once more, our apologies," the man replied before standing up and adjusting his mask. "If you'll follow us, we'll take you there."

"It's fine, really," the blonde smirked. "There's a new technique I want to try out."

Having said so, he disappeared in a flash before their very eyes, leaving what could be said to be...a yellow flash.

"Sushin no jutsu?!" the younger anbu said, stunned. "Where did he-?!"

"That's no ordinary Sushin no jutsu, rookie," the older replied. "If anything, that was an elemental enhanced form of the Shushin no jutsu."

"But how do you know, Captain?"

"Because no one, could ever replicate the skill and mastery of my fallen comrade's technique," he answered. "And he was the best at that. If Naruto-sama has managed to achieve it to this level...then he must at least be using wind or lightning enhanced nature."

"Who was he?"

"Naruto-sama?" the captain asked once more.

"No...your comrade."

"A great man," the captain answered back. "One who could even give the Yondaime a run for his money."

"Sushin no Shisui."

"Aye...a great man but a dead one nonetheless...come, we have other things to do." And with that, the two anbus disappeared in a puff of smoke.

_With Naruto_

What does Ba-chan want with me this time? the blonde thought as he reached the Hokage's office in less than three seconds.

**"Nice time kitten," Matatabi purred from his subconscious. "I see you find my Swift Release to be very useful?"**

Hai, Matatabi, Naruto thought back. Such speed...so much freedom.

**"We have more pressing matters, Naruto," Kurama informed back. "What does the Godaime want from you at this early of an hour?"**

I don't know but I don't like it...

**"Neither do we," Gyuki replied. "But it's got to be done. When this is over however, Kid, we have something...important to tell you."**

Whatever it is, it can definitely wait. Ba-chan's always putting me through Hell and back. With that, the blonde entered the offic, effectively cutting his line of communications with the Bijuus.

**"So...who's going to tell the boy?" Goku asked, only to received nothing in return.**

_In the Hokage's office,  
><em>

"Tsunade-sama," Naruto addressed once he entered the office. "Shizune nee-chan."

"Ah, Naruto. " Tsunade replied as the blonde approached. "I apologise for disturbing you but I have some unfortunate news, it seems."

"What is it?" he frowned. "Couldn't it warrant until morning, at least?"

"We apologise, otouto," Shizune answered back sheepishly. "But you've been disappearing from the village almost everyday, almost for the entire day that had we waited by then, you would be gone."

"Hai," Tsunade agreed. "While I have no doubt that your training very hard for the mission's preparation...I regret to inform you that the mission may in fact be cancelled."

"What?!" the blonde yelled out. "What happened?!"

"Naruto...keep your voice down." the older woman sigh. "It's not like we have not forseen something like this. Our client has, unfortunately, been ambushed along the way to Konoha and there's nothing we can do to help them."

"Why didn't you sent out any scouts? Or reinforcements?" the blonde demanded. The hokage glared at him for that.

"I would have," she answered in a dangerous tone. "If not for the fact, that they are so very secretive about their current location that they do not even trust us enough to informed us as such."

"All that training..." he sighed back. Just when all hope seemed lost, a pigeon appeared on the window sill of the office. Curiously, Shizune walked towards the pigeon before retrieving the message from said bird, eyes widening as she read through the contents of the message. Then turning back towards te blonde, she plastered on a fake smile, before handing the message to Tsunade.

"Well, otouto, it looks' like you get to go on your mission after all," she replied through the thin smile.

"Although it does say that they'll be delayed for another three weeks, at the very least," the hokage answered, tapping her temple slightly. The blonde shrugged at that.

"Fine by me, I guess," he answered back. "Is that all?"

When they nodded, he opened the door and left without so much as another word, leaving the two woman to their thoughts.

"You...don't like this, do you Shizune?" Tsunade asked her assitant.

"You know I disapproved of this mission from the start Tsunade-sama," she answered back angrily. "Otouto is not prepared, despite what he thinks."

"Precious little that you can do there," the Hokage shrugged, as she settled back into her seat. "Don't worry, I'm sure if anyone can handle it, it's the hero of the fourth war."

_In Naruto's subconscious,_

"So what do you want to talk to me about?" he asked his bijuus in his subconscious.

**"Nothing...nothing at all," Shukaku answered back. The rest of the bijuus were still stunned at this unprecedented event and were little more than dumbstruck at how things had turned out for them. **

If anything, three weeks should be more than enough to complete their beloved host's training, at least past what they considered to be safe for him anyway. Although, that was not enough time to finish learning all the different kinjutsus that his family clan had perserved, nor was it enough for him to progress to level two of sealing. It would also be a poor substitute for what the bijuus could actually teach him but there was nothing to be done there. Three weeks was all they had and they had to make use of it as efficiently as they could, regardless of how desperate they were.

**"Get ready, Naruto," Kurama smirked suddenly. "Because, there's been a little change in your training regiment and it just got a whole lot worse..."**

_At the hidden waterfall seconds later,  
><em>

"So...what exactly are we going to do today, senseis?" the blonde asked, eager to get his training started. There was no point in complaining, he realised. If Kurama was hell-bent in making his life as miserable as possible, he might as well shoulder it through and finish it. Besides, he could already feel just how much he had progressed over the past two days. No doubt, cramming at least years worth of jutsu control and experience in such a limited amount of time was considered a victory for anyone. Apart from that, he was eager to find out just what other abilities the remaining bijuus would provide for him. Afterall, Shukaku had already begun drilling him in more wind release techniques and Matatabi had promised to teach him her special fire release style; essentially using the hotter and much more potent blue flames instead of the normal red ones. There was never a dull moment with the bijuus, that was for certain.

**"Alright Kit," Kurama began. "First things first. You'll going to make two clones, this time, outside. And I want you to train with Shukaku and Matatabi using their Kekkei Genkai. Once you nailed that down, start practising your wind and fire base jutsus-got that?"**

"Hai...?"

**"If you've got something to say, spit it out, Kit. We don't have all day," the fox replied gruffly.**

"Why outside and not inside?" he asked.

**"Because Naruto," Saiken explained gently. "You won't be able to control your chakra properly inside, with all nine of us intefering with your control in your subconscious. Outside however, you'll only be relying on Kurama and yours. So it'll be easier."**

**"This however, does put a limit of things, though," Choumei continued. "You'll have to work twice as much, I'm afraid."**

"Can I at least use shadow clones, this time round?" he asked. After careful consideration, the bijuus agreed. Well most of them anyway.

**"I suppose," Kurama growled. "We're on a time restraint as much as I don't like it. But only four per bijuu responsible for your elemental and kekkei genkai training!"**

**"And none for your calligraphy, Naruto-kun," Saiken added sternly. "To use such a cheap trick for such an art would be an insult."**

**"Same goes for the Uzumaki style kekkei genkai," Gyuki stated. "You were already doing fine without any help before and I expect you'll master it by the time the three weeks are up."**

**"Similarly, Isobu will be teaching you his technique next, now that you've mastered both Shukaku's and Matatabi's skills," Kurama remarked. "You'll be doing this inside though your subconscious."**

"I get it," the boy dawned. "You'll let me master the execution of the technique...'inside' my brain before letting me control the chakra consumption 'outside'!

**"Exactly," Kurama finished. "But I don't want you learning any of the four tail and above techniques, until you can get everything that Isobu, Matatabi and Shukaku teached you nailed down to perfection. Got that?"  
><strong>

"Why not?" he grumbled back.

**"Because, one. I said so," the ninetails asserted. "Secondly, your chakra control has always been poor. Using our bijuu skills as well as the elemental techniques we're going to teach you will require just as much if not more chakra to excute than normal ninjutsu. And I don't want you moving on to harder and more difficult things when you're not yet prepared for them."**

**"It's just as the fox says, kid," Goku interupted. "Mastering an advanced form of an elemental kekkei genkai will be extremely hard. And my Lava Release will be one of them. And I know what you're thinking...Swift Release does not come under the same category. Instead of _sending elemental chakra throughout your body_, you're going to be _forcing it out of your chakra system_. It's also much different than Shukaku's Magnet Release since his cursed marks necessary for the seal is already available to you in chakra form. My ability will require you to not just get a feel for my chakra; _it'll require you to maintain it throughout your chakra system as well as when you expel it from your body_." **

"That's the same as Shukaku's!" Naruto protested back. "C'mon, we don't have much time!"

**"Listen Naruto, we admire your ethusiasm," Shukaku replied. "But you cannot rush perfection and Goku is right. My Magnet Release is different in that my cursed seals actually make it much easier to control and expel them. This is why they're so unique. Goku's kekkei genkai is...well, a pain. You'll see..."  
><strong>

"Fine," he answered defeated. "At least it'll be easier, I suppose..."

**"We wouldn't say that," the bijuus replied in unison, causing the blonde to sweatdropped in exasperation.**

I've just jinxed myself, haven't I? he thought gloomily.

_Training over the weeks,_

So as the hours turned into days and the days into weeks, we find our young hero struggle through the relentless training offered by his dear tenants. Just as Naruto suspected though, the bijuus were right in making his life as every bit as painful as imaginable. To say they were sadistic would not be far off. It seemed that throughout the centuries of being neglected and sealed into numerous hosts one time after the other has left each and every one of the bijuus with a thirst for sadistic humour. Yet, we should not be too judgemental of the nine bijuus seeing as they truly cared for the teens wellbeing, if not in a roundabout manner. Besides, even though they were nothing more than nine gigantic constructs of chakra, they were still beastial in essence, form and spirit and hence they're particular characteristics. Out of the nine, however, only Saiken objected to the harsh training regiment offered by Kurama, although she did little to stop her brethen from their ruthless regiment seeing that it was as effecitive as it was ever going to get. So, I hear you ask...what exactly were the modifications to Naruto's training regiment, over the past three weeks?

First of all, there were four clones who were following the training under Shukaku, learning to master the various wind techniques the tanuki had to offer from his arsenal over the centuries, as well as to master the only Magnet Release jutsu that he had to offer. Similarly, four clones were also directed under the order of Matatabi, who also immediately began to train the blonde in her aspect of Fire Release and Swift Release. If that wasn't torture enough for the young teen, Kurama had effectively enforce the rule that the clones were not under any circumstances, allowed to disperse until the three weeks were over. An argument that, no matter how much Naruto protested, eventually gave it. Once more, the ninetail's reasoning came into play; sure, Naruto would be facing one hell of a headache once they finally dispersed but he was going to have to train himself both physcologically as well as mentally if he was going to make the cut for an S-rank mission.

As for Isobu, another clone was summoned to learn the turtle's infamous Water Release techniques as well as special tail beast skill; Coral Production. As Isobu had explained to an eager Naruto, coral production was neither an elemental release kekkei genkai nor a jutsu for that fact. It was, for all intent and purposes, a defense mechanism. When a still very flustered and confused Naruto demanded a proper explanation, the gentle beast had sighed before asking him to imagine it akin to something like Gyuki's unique ability to produce ink, a statement that somewhat relived Naruto of a troublesome explanation but which ticked off the turtle as, to use the blonde's words,

_"Wow, Isobu. I didn't know that turtle's spit coral when they were threatened!"_

Words that the turtle didn't know were either sincere or mocking but little did he care since he took it as an insult anyway. Isobu had decided to be understanding and patient in training the young Uzumaki but after his rather rash statement of the three-tails, Isobu had quickly changed his mind and following the previous bijuu's example, proceeded to belittle and push the boy as far as possible in his shinobi training. So, it wasn't shocking that after Naruto dispersed his subconscious clone, he found that he always suffered a rather severe and traumatising headache from the days mental excursion with the three-tails; a fact that he couldn't quite put his finger on. He knew the three tails was rather angry with him but he just didn't know why...

Kurama's taijutsu training offered no peace of mind either, as the fox had decided to up the antic quite a bit on the blonde. He still haven't started on the third level of difficulty for the blonde but had instead increased his speed, strength and reflexes when they next spar. Such training only seemed to strengthened Naruto's resolve however as Kurama would always give him that briefest glimmer of hope when Naruto was about to land a blow on the ninetails-only for the ninetails to escape within just a few inches away from the blonde. A testament, that Naruto hated all the more, since he knew Kurama was doing on purpose. Despite this however, his speed and strength had definitely increased. Slowly at first but by the time the three weeks was over, he was at least twice, if not three times as strong and fast as he previously was before.

Usually such a thing would not be possible in such a short amount of time but unknown to him; muscle fibres which were damaged took at least a few weeks to heal but because of the bijuus interference, his body had not only healed overnight, it had also adapted to better combat the harsh beating he took everyday and hence why his physical attributes improved so dramatically. As for his senses, they were finely honed to a sharpness known by no other, or at the very least to himself, so far as Naruto was concerned; Kurama was never gentle in his beatings and he had since learned one thing from the fox. Evade, dodge, counter, block or get sent spiralling to the ground face down.

His tracking and stealth skills had also improved and with it, so did his diet. All those nights that he was force to do calligraphy were not wasted afterall, it seemed. In addition to the eight clones that were forced to train continously, Naruto had always sent two ones each night to find and capture whatever game that could be found in the woods nearby for the next day's daily provisions. Also, they were two more clones that he made, one to help him with his calligraphy work and another to brush up on edible plants and medicinal herbs over the three weeks. He doubt he would be able to learn each and every single plant as well as their various uses, but once again unknown to him, the bijuus managed to alter his memory skills somewhat, so that it stuck to his mind much better than a fly stuck in a spider's web. A sentiment, that even they, the bijuus, complained about, seeing as even Kurama had to enforce some amount of effort as the blonde's poor memory and academic skills were zero to none.

The only training that did not seem to bother him the least was Gyuki's calm and reflective style on helping him master the Sacred Chains Technique, again via a ninth clone. As Gyuki had stated, the blonde was a natural in his clan's unique kekkei genkai and there was little for the eight tales to do but to observe and watch. By the time the first week was over, Naruto had already learnt to manifest all eight chains and, to the octopus's surprise, even manifested a nine one. Never before had such a spectacle been seen among the Uzumaki but Naruto had no time to dwell on this. He had proceeded to further push his limits on just how far he could utilise such a diverse skill at his disposal. By the time the three weeks were up, he had now achieve ten chains, all of which were able to travel at least a hundred meters in length or a single one which was able to travel as far as two hundred meters. Along with this, he had found many different ways to use them, from catching game, to suspending himself upside down under a tree for mental conditioning and even to catch a certain white-haired sensei of his, who had against his best effort, failed to figure out just who had speared his favourite book out of nowhere.

By the time the three weeks was over, Naruto hurt but with that hurt came a confidence that he had never felt before; he now believed that he could take on Madara on his own and win. The bijuus had berated him for this. When he questioned why, they only smirked. They didn't think that he should be 'believing' his abilities as such but rather...'knowing' that he could do as such, just as they knew he could. For his taijutsu training, he had now grasp the concept of counter attacking and was more than capable of blocking a blow, kick and even headache from his incoming opponent from all parts of his body, from his hands, legs and even to a finger. Despite this however, he had not yet managed to developed the perfect counter to each blow, stance or attack from any direction that an opponent would attack him from. Still, he thought. I'm one step closer to mastering the Sleeping Dragon stance and the dragon will rise once more!

As for the numerous stances that Kurama had drilled into the boy, there were a few issues with the training that the blonde found little more than irritating. To say he could do each and every stance, movement and coordinated blow, counter and etc was true. However, because Kurama had focused on actually drilling the moves into the blonde's muscle memory, it came off as more of a reflex than a active skill. This was the reason why he was able to counter every move an opponent throw at him but why he couldn't select the perfect counter; his body moved on its own. Unfortunately, he was out of time and the only way left to learn, as Kurama puts it, was to learn on the journey. If anything, he was more than half-way through learning the Sleeping Dragon stance but as Kurama told him, this was an ever progressing stance and hence would only grow with each generation. So, it would be up to Naruto to add newer and more efficient counters to ths stance once he had learnt all that he could from the fox.

For both the Magnet Release and the Swift Release, Naruto had finally managed to compress his chakra usage to a tenth of it's original value. It was a torturous task and he would have failed if not for the horrendous amount of effort and dedication that each of his eight clones contributed in mastering the two techniques. As a result, Naruto was now not only able to summon Shukaku's cursed seals just by will alone but also extend them in all directions. As for the Swift Release, he was now able to not only move at incredibly fast speed but had begun experimenting and creating new taijutsu's move, either by taking existing moves and upgrading them such as the leaf whirlwind [it became Swift Release: Uzumaki's Spiral], or combining and merging two or more different taijutsu styles. One of which involved a barrage of palm strikes and spear thrusts aimed at precise positions all over the body; points which were aimed to hurt, maim and basically incapacitate the opponent. He called this technique Swift Release: Dragon style barrage. Although, in retrospect, as Gyuki puts in, there was little point in naming all the different swift styles seeing as they were essentially moves and stances of the Sleeping Dragon style, combined with the Swift Release technique...

Similarly, progress with his wind and fire release from both the tanuki and the bakeneko was just as astounding. Although the two bijuus had to technically tone their teir techniques somewhat, they were able to impart upon Naruto the fundamentals of harenessing and creating your own respective elemental jutsu and nature. For his Wind Release arsenal, Naruto had added three new jutsus. The first of which was Wind Release: Still Air; a jutsu that involved the user expelling the air gather into either strong gusts, capable of pushing back would be attackers or huge swirling vortexes, aimed to annihilate them in a single swoop. The second was Wind Release: Air Bullets, the toned down version of Shukau's own trademark drilling air bullets. And finally was, Wind Release: A million blades; a devastating ability and technique of last resort that Shukaku had warned him to never use in close vicinity with surrounding allies. This was a jutsu that involved summoning the wind to form a barrier around you before releasing them in the form of millions of tiny microscopic blades that sliced at your opponent. Unlike the Rasenshuriken, this particular jutsu was more of a defensive jutsu aimed at opponents who had _surrounded you_, although the concepts were essentially the same. The reason why it was treated as a kinjutsu however, was because of its unpredictable range. There was no telling how far the microscopic blades could go; so while they pose no threat to the user, they do to his allies.

For fire release, Matatabi had taught him the basic Fire Relese: Great Fireball Technique. Next was the more advanced Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation, a jutsu that the bakeneko had slyly copied from Indra's previous successor. Lastly was Naruto's own personal and most used fired jutsu, Fire Release: Dragon flamethrower, a jutsu that instead of kneading chakra from within and expelling it from the mouth, involved him manifesting the fire chakra into a dragon's head in one hand before having it unleash a torrent of fire in any way, form or direction he so choose.

As for Isobu's special tail beast skill, similar to the two tails and one tails special skill beast ability, Naruto had been completely and utterly won over by it's simplicity and uniqueness...once he went through the mental pain of acquiring it, that is. Since Isobu's coral production was not an elemental jutsu, he quickly began to see its usefulness in incorporating it together with the Swift Release. Unfortunately, similar to the other tail beast skills, there was only one technique available to him: The Coral Palm. Such a jutsu, if you could even called it that, relied on Naruto to actually make contact with an opponent in order to work. Once it did however, a large heavy mass of coral will begin to grow from said opponents back, restricting both their mobility and was however a drawback because even though the coral aimed to restrict the opponents movement, it also made them near invincible to attack, as Isobu puts it:

_"Young one, my coral is unique in that it's as tough as steel! Use it only when you want to stop an opponent but not kill him. Once the coral grows, it'll grow throughout the entire body until it encanses the person in an impenetrable shell."_

Of course, like with any other jutsus, there were ways to destroy the coral but not without significant chakra release and effort on the opponents part. Similarly, Naruto originally planned to use this technique on himself for defensive purposes. However, Isobu was not as keen on such an idea and neither was Kurama. This was because, although the coral did indeed have great defense, it would severely restrict Naruto movements and seeing as the Sleeping Dragon style was based on speed and evasion, Kurama forbade him from even trying out such a move on himself. Unfortunately for him, he didn't have any time to master any water based techniques on the way. Although, as Kurama told him previously, any time that they managed to rest, will be spent on furthering the blonde's new abilities.

As for the Uzumaki clan's unique jutsus, there were only two that he had managed to sneak a peek at so far. First was a Yin based ninjutsu, called Secret art: Blinding Flash. This acted as a counter to the more common Nara clan's shadow based technique, which were Yang based. Whereas the Nara's used light to cast shadows for the excution of their techniques, the Uzumaki's used light to _essentially blind_ opponents, effectively making an ambush nigh on impossible. This however was labelled as a kinjutsu, since the user needed to get used to the amount of light release at any one time, less they find themselves just as stunned by the technique as those he had used it on. The second however, ironically, was a genjutsu based one; the infamous Secret art: Bringer-of-Darkness which was made famous by the Shodai Hokage. Such a technique however, did rely on a bit of stealth and ambushing skills however since it only brought blindness to the perception of the opponents eye but not to the opponent's other senses. Similarly, out of all the techniques, Naruto loathe to use this one as he knew how easy it was to dispel genjutsu as well as how bad he naturally was at casting and maintaining genjutsu. Still, Kurama had forced him to learn the two techniques and repeatedly induced him into actually casting them to, surprisingly, varying success. The Uzumaki clan secrets were not easy to master and even with the bijuus' help, Naruto wouldn't be mastering them any time soon. Regardless, he was at least, a proficient user of the two jutsus and that was hard to complain.

The only thing he had not managed to progress on were his studies on fuinjutsu. Though that was hardly surprising given the fact that Saiken wouldn't let him progress until he had the basic six months of calligraphy nailed down...

All in all, however, he was more than ready for whatever mission was awaiting him. So, in three weeks time, dressed in his new fitting anbu uniform and blank mask, without the accompanying anbu sword [seeing as he had no practice in kenjutsu WHAT-SO-EVER], we find the blonde awaiting the arrival of his client together with Tsunade, Shizune and a few other selected anbu members. Regardless of the fact that they were going to be welcoming nobles to the village, this escort mission was top secret and they weren't taking any risk with it. As the troupe of eight exhausted looking people, dressed in what appeared to be as peasant's clothing, appeared in front of the villages' gates, followed by two cloaked figures dressed in pure white, riding on horses, Satoru and his companion Ryota suddenly appeared from outside the bushes before walking towards the group. After a brief discussion, the person in front of the group gave a slight nod before geturing towards the Hokage.

This is surprising, Naruto thought. Where are the ninjas and samurai?

**Have you learn nothing, Kit? Kurama thought back. Those _are_ the samurai and ninja.**

Upon closer inspection, Naruto realised Kurama was right. They might look like peasants but five of them carried swords and all of them held themselves up in a way that showed that they were used to a lifetime of combat.

I guess this is where it all begins, the blonde thought grimly.

* * *

><p>Chapter end!<p>

And so ends the training saga. Look out for the next chapter! There'll be a fight between Naruto and the ominous ten to show whether the Moonlight guards actually trust the blonde's skill or not?! Don't forget to review!

If you want some of your own jutsus added, like I did mine, into the story; just put it in the reviews. Remember though, it must be original and must include a short description of what the technique or jutsu actually does.

Anway, stay awesome guys and see you next time!


	11. Chapter 11

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO**

**Author's** **Note:** Hi again guys and as usual...YAY FOR MORE CHAPTERS! Like the last time, there wasn't much reviews from the readers so I have nothing to write up on in this section. On the good side though, things are finally starting to get heated up. From here on out, there'll be tons of actions. I haven't got any jutsus from anyone just yet, so if you really want to make a contribution to this story, either private message me or just write down a jutsu on the reviews as well as a short description of what it's suppose to do.

Anyway, ON TO THE NEXT CHAPTER!

[What?! NO "BUT I DIGRESS" ? I'm disappointed Wiki627...]

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><p>Chapter 11: Ashura's enigma<p>

_At Konoha's training battleground number XX_

"I thank you for setting this up," the blind man spoke as Tsunade led the group of twelve people along with herself, Shizune and Naruto in to the secret location. Training grounds in Konoha were common place given the fact that Konoha was indeed a hidden village. Despite this however, there were more...secretive places that not enough the majority of the normal shinobi forces were aware of that were available for training. They were in one such place now. Even our young blonde gasped in surprise at the place that lay before him as the blindfold surrounding his eyes was removed, revealing an underground cavern large enough to hold two hundred men.

"I'm glad you feel that way, Satoru-san," Tsunade replied casually. "I wouldn't usually do this for clients but this time I'll make an exception."

The man grinned back in return. In a way, what the Hokage had said made sense. You didn't just normally let people you barely knew into one of the village's secret training grounds just because they ask you to, even if they were clients; the training grounds they were currently in were specifically reserved for anbu members as well as veteran jounins who were there to practice trademark abilities as well as to develop new skills. She knew she was going to get an earful from both the Shinobi council and the civilian group for allowing outsiders to enter such a secret place but despite it all, Tsunade knew just how important it was to be able to witness even a glimpse of how powerful the forces from the Moonlight Kingdom actually were. And who better to test them than Konoha's number one most unpredictable ninja?

Still...one nagging question remained; why had they demanded to be given a chance to go against their hired guard? This might seemed like a silly question if one were to consider that as a client, you would usually want to be at least reasonably happy with your hired guards capabilities. However, the fact that they had never done this before made Tsunade little more than wary at their current outcome. Something wasn't right...

Walking up to the blind man, she leaned in to his ear before whispering, "You didn't renegade on our deal now...did you, Satoru?"

If the man was amused at such a blatant outcome, he didn't show it at all. "Of course I wouldn't. However...I did say that you were only sending one this time round."

Growling, the Godaime turned around. Satoru had indeed played his cards well she knew, being a habitual gambler herself. He had not revealed Naruto's identity but had rigged it in such a manner that members of his own group would question the decision of the Hokage. Afterall, if fourty seven jounins had failed previously beforehand, who would be stupid enough to send just one anbu? That Satoru is smarter than he looks, Tsunade thought to herself. I'll have to keep an eye on him. And she was wise to think as such. Now, each member from the Moonlight Kingdom were demanding to be given a chance to test Naruto's abilities. If what Satoru had told them before about the Hokage having absolute trust in the man standing before them, then they would see if she was lying or not. If he did indeed pass their test, then they would continue on their way but should he fail...then they would have taken Tsunade's offer to their plight as nothing more than a mocking attempt at helping them get back to their homeland and they would immdeiately leave Konoha without so much as a chance of a new alliance between the two countries.

This was a dangerous game they were playing, Tsunade knew but ironically, this time, she hadn't signed herself up for it as she did all those time previously. And despite her protest against such an action, Naruto had simply agreed to their demands. His actions were met with...a mixed variety of reactions. The samurais immediately took a dislike towards such a careless response whereas the shinobis viewed him as an arrogant man as such. Even Tsunade and Shizune were eyeing him as if he were insane. The only person that seemed to approve of his actions was Satoru...and he was laughing about it.

So now we find out beloved blonde facing the first of the five Moonlight samurai as she stepped up in front of him, with her sword drawn out. Everyone else had backed off to the sidelines where they could observe the match that was about to take place; unique among the hidden training grounds was that they had seats chiselled in to the walls of the training grounds. These provided ways for newer members of the anbus to observe their more experienced brethen trained in order to achieve those same level of skills as well as to provide them a safe place to observe them. No one but the combatants were allowed to be on the field as this could be potentially life-theatening.

"My name is Midori," the samurai called out from Naruto as she took of her helmet before holding both it and her sword in an precise manner, and bowing her head down in respect. When she straighten up, the blonde lifted an eyebrow at her appearance. A girl of no older than eighteen looked back at him, with bright geen hair that was cropped just below her ears. Her youthful look however, belied the way that she held her body, however. While it looked like she had the body of a frail teen, there was no doubt that this girl had kill and would definitely choose to do so again if circumstances force her to, Naruto knew. Even now, she had her battle frown on as she eyed the boy before her carefully, searching for any openings that she could exploit. "May I ask for the name of the one who I am to fight?"

"Nice to meet you beautiful Midori," Naruto answered back jovially, immediately earning sweatdrops from both Shizune and Tsunade, as well as a slight blush from the girl across from him. There were just some things that you couldn't teach the blonde and manners were one of them. "I cannot tell you my name as it is the nature of an anbu but you may call me...Ashura."

Almost immediately, each and everyone from the moonlight forces began to whisper. Both Shizune and Tsunade turned to each other in shock. True, they had requested Naruto to use another name but...what was so shocking of the name that Naruto had chosen? The bijuus, on the other hand, knew exactly what was going through the minds of their hosts' clients and were smirking gleefully at this sudden outcome. The Moonlight people were going to learn just why they shouldn't take the carefree teen for granted and they were going to learn it the hard way.

"I see," Midori answered as she tightened the grip on her sword, her scowl now replacing her frown. "I hope you've earned the right to use such a name, Ashura-san because one who decides to name themselves as such had better be able to prove it!"

With that she sped towards the blonde, as she arc her sword about her in a semi circle before bringing it to clash with Naruto's armguard, the momentum from the swing almost brining the blonde to his knees. Grunting from such a force, Naruto sushin himself away to a safer location as he tried to analyse his opponent's battle patterns. She might look adorable but boy did she pack a punch. If anything, his right arm was slightly bruised from the impact and her wasn't feeling too pleased about it. There was now a scowl on his face as well as he ran through the training that his senseis had taught him.

However, Midori did not give him a chance to recover. No more than a few seconds that he had teleported himself, had she done so as well. The wicked hiss of steel as her sword sliced through the air gave the blonde no more than a few seconds to react as he parried the incoming blow from behind him. This time, though, instead of retreating to a safe corner, he buckled his knees before dropping forward and slaming his left shoulder towards her exposed chest causing her to skid a few feet from the blow, a grimace of pain flashing just briefly across her face. What was shocking to Naruto however, was the fact that although she had been caught off guard like he was by her, she hadn't flinched at such unexpectedness.

This is no ordinary samurai! he thought frantically. She's been trained in ninjutsu as well!

**"If you only act without thinking then, you will only fail..." Shukaku suddenly whispered in his subconscious.**

Realising that the tanuki was right, he braced himself for what he was about to do next. Taking a deep breath, Naruto focused his concentration on what his opponent would do next. Time seemed to slow down as the green haired girl suddenly thrust out her blade towards him, which the blonde sidestepped before turning a full three hundred and sixty degrees towards the stunned green-haired. The blow landed home as the momentum behind the turn caused the blow to hit painfully onto her chest. This time however, the girl was knocked striaght to the floor, her breath knocked completely out of her. Growling at the sudden turned of events, she got back up on her feet looking for the person who had done this to her. Unfortunately, she was just a second too late as she heard the next words that came out of the blonde's mouth.

"Tailed beast skill: Coral Palm!" he called out as Naruto slammed his palm roughly onto Midori's back. Branches of heavy coral began to grow all over Midori, effectively restraining her and earning gasps from all over the training field.

"When did he?!" Shizune asked.

"Such skill!" One of the Moonlight shinobi's called out. The rest could only nod at his exclamation.

"You've done well, Ashura-san for imobilizing me with such a technique," Midori called out. Naruto, however, did not welcome her praise. There was that strange gleam in her eyes, that he had now gotten far too used to from the bijuus whenever he thought he had one-uped them many times only to have them pull yet another trick onto the unsuspecting blonde. "But you're wrong if you think this will stop me!"

The blonde eyes widened at the sudden influx of power as the girl suddenly broke free from her coral prison with pure brute force. Cracking her shoulders, she turned to face him, her eyes now replaced with orbs of pure green light and her right hand swinging that sword of her dangerously as she slowly advanced towards the blonde. Retreating to a safe distance once more, Naruto immediately found that he couldn't take more than a few steps back as he found both feet trapped by what appeared to be hardened ground about them.

What in the?! he thought but he didn't have long as the deadly sword was swung at him once more. Both Shizune and Tsunade gasped at what was about to happened to Naruto but their guests weren't as concerned as they were; the Midori they knew would never kill anyone innocent. She might harm someone as well as scar them for life but the worst that the young blonde would get from her was a harmless scar that would stretched from his right shoulder down to his left waist, as a momento from crossing blade with the Earth Mistress. Just as the blade was about to bite flesh however, Midori immediately felt resistance. Looking up, she found a sight that she couldn't believe with her own two eyes; there were two white chains that were holding the blade in midair, preventing it from going down any further towards the blonde's right shoulder. One chain extended from Naruto's right arm and the arm from his left.

"**I think not**,"he growled in Kurama's tone, before wrenching the blade free from her grasp and swinging it back at her with the two chains, forcing her to ducked. The blade flew past her before embedding itself into a stone wall, where it lay stuck awkwardly at an angle.

Who or what in the world is he?! the eighteen year old thought. Along with the sudden respect that she was now feeling for the blonde, came another; fear. Nobody had managed to catch her unaware this badly before but she wasn't going to let this stop her. For a moment, she contemplated freeing the blade. A sword was a samurai's self and soul. Without it, a samurai was nothing but it would take her at least a few minutes to free it from the stone wall's iron grip, even with her earth-based powers. And minutes might as well be hours in the matchup since the blonde was already freeing himself from her Earthlock prison with nothing more than a careless kick from each foot.

**You owe me for this, Kit, Kurama growled slowly. And you can make up for it by not losing to her!**

I intend to! Naruo thought back, banishing the fox's chakra away and getting into the signature stance of the Sleeping Dragon.

"This ends here!" he called out, before vanishing in a flash of light. As he was about to strike a punch at the girl however, huge walls of earth surrounded the girl, forcing him to circle about her, looking for another opening but finding none. The walls eventually fell but there were now bits and lumps of earth that were floating around Midori, providing a shield of some sort as she made her way once more, towards him.

"Indeed it has," she replied back. "So why don't you just give yourself up? I don't like harming worthy opponents, Ashura-san but I will if you continue to push me to do so."

Naruto eyed her carefully before resuming his previous stance, one arm facing towards her. "I won't give up...because that's my nindo, my ninja way!"

"An admirable response but a foolish one nonetheless," Midori answered back. "Let me show you why none has ever escape the Earth Mistress's embrace."

With that, a huge earth dragons emerged from the ground surrounding the girl...

_At the spectacle stands,_

"This Ashura must be something if he's pushing Midori this far!" the samurai known as Hikaru remarked. "Wi...Master has told us to never use such a technique unless there is a battle we absolutely cannot lose, at any cost!"

"You're right," another samurai answered back. "I have never seen skills as refined as these outside the kingdom nor have I seen Midori worked up this much."

"Excuse me for intruding," Tsunade interuptted as she walked in on their conversation. "But I believe an explanation is in order."

All four samurai look to the elder Mitsuo, who in turn, nodded back. Premission now granted, the samurai proceeded to enlighten the Godaime Hokage.

"Everything I'm about to tell you, Tsunade-sama, must not be revealed to outside ears," the man said. "It's only because we have Mitsuo-sama's permission, as well as the fact that we require your village's help that I'm willing to impart certain knowledge about ourselves towards you."

"I understand."

"Very well," he continued. "The girl you see there whom we call by the name of Midori-san, is known by another title...just one other."

"And what is this other title?" Shizune asked, her interest pique as well.

"The Earth Mistress. Unlike normal shinobi, the five of us samurai have received special training to bypass the seal requirements for summoning such elemental powers. Like the name suggests, Midori has complete control over elemental earth and can manipulate it to do whatever she so desires. Such a technique, however, is limited to both her skill, age and availability of earth abound. Although, like us, she has already learnt to forgo the last restriction to her powers."

"Like...you?"

"Ah, I see where you're going Tsunade-sama but information does not work that way with us. I have told you something about one of our members...now we expect you to tell us something back."

"And what is it that you want to know?" Tsunade asked warily, although it was blatantly obvious from the looks on their faces.

"Just one question really," the samurai answered back before pointing to the anbu, who was still battling with Midori. "Who is Ashura?"

"I'm afraid that is a question that you will have to ask him yourself," Tsunade replied. "I know you won't like my answer but I gave him my word, that I would never reveal his secrets to anyone prior to the mission."

"The Hokage would honour a promise of one who is of lower rank than herself?" Tsunade eyed the man back for that.

"I don't know how your kingdom works but in Konoha we never betray a comrade. Ever."

"I see...Then please accept my sincere apologies Tsunade-sama. I mean no harm in my comment. It's just that in the Moonlight Kingdom, we would readily give ourselves up for the country's leader, regardless of our opinion."

"That seems a bit harsh..." Shizune remarked.

"Be careful how you phrase that sentence, Shizune-sama. While our actions may seemed weird to outsiders, the people of our kingdom have only preservered this long because of the royal family's rule."

"...and how long have they been ruling, if you don't mind me asking?" This time the man smirked.

"Ever since the conception of ninjutsu and the beginning of the ninja world. You could say they even had a hand in...'raising' the famed clan from which you yourself are descended from. But that is enough...I see that we will never be getting more from either of you and I refuse to impart any more knowledge."

"You can't just leave us hanging on a thread like that!" Tsunade protested. "Who exactly are you people?!"

"As I said Tsunade-sama, wisdom works both ways. You refuse to tell us of..._Ashura-san's_ background so we, in return, will be witholding back information on what exactly it is that you wished to know."

"There'll be no going round this? I'm sure we could come to an agreement," she persuaded.

"Unfortunately no. And besides, I think it will be MUCH benificial to us if we can find out the truth from _his _mouth anyway," the man answered, effectively cutting off the argument. Knowing that she won't be able to get anything more from the samurai, Tsunade turned away before walking back to her seat. Her mind, however, was a buzz of thoughts. I don't like the way they're eyeing Naruto, she thought, worried for the safety of the blonde. They won't kill him but...its as if they know something about him that even I and Shizune don't know about! There must be...something that Naruto's been hiding from me. And I bet it probably has to do with that new name of his. Taking a glance at the still fighting blonde, a new question begun to appear in her mind; "Who exactly are you, Naru-no..._Ashura-san_?"

_Back with Naruto and Midori,_

Impressive speed, the samurai thought, as her earth dragon circled about the training ground before crashing into a wall, barely missing the blonde. Hmm, this Ashura could even give Satoru-san a run for his money. As the dust cleared, however, she couldn't find any trace of the blonde. Turning around frantically to prevent any form of ambush or surprise tactic, she suddenly felt something from the ceiling above her. Turning her gaze upwards, she found a very annoyed looking Naruto rushing through a series of hand seals before expelling a series of highly compressed air bullets towards her.

"Wind Release: Air Bullets!" he called out. Huge streams of pure earth flowing like water circled the green haired samurai just before the jutsu collided with her, effectively rendering it useless. Naruto growled at that. No matter what he did, she always found the perfect counter to his abilities with that versatile skill of hers. Never before had he seen an Earth based technique of such a high calibre before but there was little time to admire or appreciate it since his life was on the line. There must be something I can do! he thought. Think! As long as that earth is surrounding her, I'll never be able to even get a hit in. So the question is...how do I get her away from that earth?

**"Kit, remember that _special training_ I did with you?" Kurama asked, earning the attention of the remaining bijuus. "I think now's the time to use it."**

Naruto grinned at that. It wasn't perfect yet but if his father could do it...then so could he. Forming a spiral sphere of chakra in one hand, he reached his other hand into his pocket and pulled out a kunai. This was no ordinary kunai however, it belonged to a previous hokage who had given his life for the village. Now or never, the blonde thought grimly, charging wind chakra into the sphere. Instead of throwing it at his opponent however, he angled his body forward to increase the speed at which he was going to collide with the samurai. The green haired girl merely smirked at the blonde's antic. So far, none of his techniques had warrant so much as a scratch from her. Summoning another earth dragon, she channelled it forward, rising her hand palmwards towards the incoming blonde. As the blue-white spinning windmill of energy sliced through the earth dragon like a hot knife through butter however, the girl's attitude did a complete take by a hundred and eighty degrees. What was that technique?!

Wind Release: Rasenshuriken! Tsunade and Shizune thought.

"I thought you banned him from using such a dangerous kinjutsu!" Shizune yelled at Tsunade.

I did, she thought. Is this battle worth so much to you, Naruto?! Enough to sacrifice your life?!

By now the dragon was completely obliterated but before the sphere could even so much as graze the samurai, she leapt away from the incoming path of the blonde.

Just escaped the jaws of death, yet again, she thought warily. Only for the blonde to smirk as the blow collided with the earth before him, releasing a huge spherical vortex of pure wind and chakra that extended out towards her. With only seconds to act, Midori did the only thing that she could; bracing herself from the impact, she held her two arms in front of her before summoning whatever remaining amount of chakra she had left into forming a protective cocoon-like earth shield about her. Her attempt, though futile, managed to stop the incoming small wind blades from piercing her skin but completely devasted both the earth shield and her samurai armour. However, it was the pure compressed chakra that ravaged her body, causing multiple burns, scars and muscle tears throughout. Her final thought was, a suicidal technique...you are indeed worthy of that name, Ashura-san but you are still foolish for doing so. Just before she passed out however, she could have swear she saw a brief yellow flash from the centre of the sphere and then...total darkness.

_With Naruto,_

**"You cut a bit too close there, kit" Kurama growled, as he immeditely got to work in mending the jinchuriki's wounds. Naruto merely grimace as the pain floored through his right arm before disappearing. "You're lucky I managed to stop those wind blades from piercing your chakra nerves. Don't ever do something as stupid as that again!"  
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"It work didn't it?" Naruto called back. He was currently suspended in the air a few metres just outside the sphere's influence. Kurama had indeed been right; that special training had not only guaranteed his success but it had also saved his life. It had taken an enormous amount of secrecy and effort to master the Hirashin Jutsu from the rest of the bijuu but boy, was it worth it. The six tsils, however, was not amused.

**"HOW DARE YOU TEACH HIM SUCH A HIGH LEVEL SEAL-BASED TECHNIQUE WHEN HE WAS NOT READY, YOU DAMN FOX!" she yelled at Kurama. Never before had the slug ever unleashed such anger before to anyone and for a moment, even Kurama was scared stiff at this sudden developmet. "IF MY SOICHI DIES, I'LL HAVE YOUR HEAD FOR THIS, YOU BLASTED FOX, YOU!"**

Right, I'm staying out of this, Naruto thought. Sensing the chakra about him, he circled in on Midori's chakra signature before throwing his kunai towards her, before vanishing and reappearing in front of her now unconscious body. As he laid eyes, on her, however, a deep blush began to develope from across his face; her arour had been wiped cleaned off, leaving her in tattered rags that, while covering her more modest parts, had mutiple holes in them, in awkward places. Sighing, he picked her up before swinging her across his right shoulder. Time to face the crowd...

_With the spectators,_

Darn, can see a damn thing! Tsunade thought. As the dust cleared, two figures became visible, although one was standing, while the other was slung across the back of the other. Everyone sucked in their breath as the walking figure stepped into the clear, revealing a slightly exhausted Naruto, with his trademark foxy grin.

"So I guess, I win?" he announced. Both Tsunade and Shizune heaved a sigh of relief at his safety. At the same time, two samurai, jumped off from the stands before proceeding to relief the young anbu of the now unconscious Midori. "I hope I wasn't too hard..."

"Think nothing of it, Ashura-san," a male samurai answered him. "Midori is much tougher than this. If anything, let me congratulate you on your win as well as providing us with an amazing battle."

"Get ready though," Hikaru intercepted, before drawing her sword towards him. "I'm your next opponent."

Tsunade and Shizune argued angrily at this but was dismissed casually by their client. Mitsuo explained that since Naruto had effectively agreed on the fight, then he would fight until they deemed him worthy enough to stop. Such an argument however, was soon rebuffed by the Hokage but Mitsuo threatened to take their leave should she refused the continued fight, a sentiment that Naruto yelled out his agreement to. He had come this far, and he wasn't going to back out now. So as the the blonde glanced back at his new opponent, both the hokage and her assitant sank back down into their seats, throughly displeased at the way their junior was acting before them. Shizune personally promised herself that she would punished her foster brother once this issue was done, one did not just ignore a gesture of goodwill from her and get away from it. Like Midori, Hikaru was more than confident in her abilities at taking him down. Unlike her however, Hikaru was feeling much more cautious per se, from the previous fight. The girl began romoving her helmet, when she suddenly stopped and looked at her male companion. He nodded back in return. Reaching into her side, she pulled out a flask containing a blue-looking liquid before tossing it towards the blonde.

"Drink this," she infromed him. "It'll replenish your lost chakra but won't fully rejuvenate your exhaustion or wounds. You have my apologies there, Ashura-san."

Having said so, she took off her helmet, revealing another beauty from the kingdom. Unlike Midori though, her face made her out much younger than she actually was; her difining features were the soft blue eyes and smooth skin that ran across her facial features. It gave her an almost child-like appearance. There was no other way to describe it; this girl looked far too naive to be taken seriously. Just as the thought hit him however, Naruto realized something else; it was because of that naive look that probably earned her all her victories as well. From what the previous samurai had shown him...these samurai were not your usual criminals that dressed up in armour harassing civilians on the street, they were a highly trained corps that were formed to counter shinobis.

"My name is Hikaru," the blonde girl answered back, taking a different stance from Midori. "I am known as the Light Warden. Please make this fight as enjoyable as the one I saw previously."

**"If the previous one is Earth..." Gyuki wondered. "Then the light warden is...NO! NARUTO-GET OUT OF THE WAY!"**

"Begin!" Tsunade announced. The blonde smirked once the match started and held her unarmed hand in front of the other, in a cross, before releasing a stream of what looked like a pure beam of yellow crackling energy. Naruto had absolutely no time to escape, resulting in the arching beam to strike him across the chance, jolting him with immense pain. His nerves numbed from such an impact, Hikaru immediately ruashed towards him, sword out now, eager to win the battle and not making the same mistake as her comrade in prolonging a fight with such a formidable opponent.

I can't move my body! Naruto thought desperately. The next thing he knew was the cold feeling of steel touching his throat.

"Surrender," Hikaru stated, the point of her sword at his throat. "Not much of a battle since I surprised you but I admit I am disappointed if this is your best."

"Then you best be prepared for what is to come next," Naruto growled, before vanishing in a flash of yellow light.

"?!"

"Over here!" he snarled, appearing from behind her. The blow missed Hikaru, given her lightning fast reflexes but caught her on the chin. Backing away slowly, she rubbed the sore spot that was already forming on the bruised area.

What kind of a technique is that?! Hikaru thought. To be able to vanish and then reappear?

Good thing I left that kunai on the floor by accident, Naruto thought grimly. His bijuus wordlessly agreed.

_In the spectator's stance,_

"Tsunade-sama..."

"Hai...this is my uncle's prized technique," Tsunade muttered. "But when did he...?"

"I guess the saying is true," Satoru interuptted. "Like father, like son."

Both women turned to glare at him but otherwise no much else was done; Satoru had made it absolutely clear that he knew who Naruto really was but he wasn't going to share that piece of information just yet.

_Back with the two blondes,_

**Naruto, I need another minute! Kurama informed the boy. Your impulses are still recovering but I'll do what I can.**

One second is all I need, the boy answered back. Vanishing from his spot, he whizzed towards Hikaru but the girl was having none of that. Having personally witness what his swift release could just do, she wasn't taking any chance with him. Similarly, this..._boy_, seemed like he could vanish from one spot to the other at will and she wasn't about to fall prey to a technique in which she had absolutely no idea to. Having deciding so, crackling bolts of electricity surrounded her, forcing the boy to backed away in fright.

What is it with these samurais! the blonde thought. They might as well be anbu captains for all I know!

**"Kitten, think!" Matatabi hissed at him. "If Midori called herself the Earth's mistress...what do you think Hikaru's power actually is?"**

Her name matches well with her title, Matatabi but I'm not in the mood for jokes here, he growled. Light warden? Could she control yin release?! Not that's not possible. There are five samurai...and Midori could control earth. Could that mean...each of the four could also control a separate element? This is pushing it a bit too far. But yin-yang release do not make up the five basic elemental natures, which means...

"Care to explain why your lightning is yellow, Hikaru-chan?" Naruto panted. The blonde girl smiled back at him.

"You're smarter than you look, Ashura-san but don't refer to me so familiarly," she answered back. "If you can beat me, I'll tell you though."

With that, she super-charged her senses with lightning chakra and lunged herself at the blonde. Such an attack would have taken the boy by complete surprise had Naruto not witness it done before by the Raikage, A. Let me show you a real "light" based technique, Naruto thought, before placing his hands in the appropriate hand seal position. Just before Hikaru could reach him, a flash of bright white light emanated from the blonde, blinding her.

"Secret art: Blinding Flash!" was the last thing she heard before finding herself blinded, stunned and suddenly immobile. Fearing the worst, she sent ripples of pure lightning from all parts of her body, only to find her efforts to be fruitless. When her sight began to return to her, she found runes of what appeared to be some sort of strange marking from all over her body, with one line stretching all the way to...the blonde a few metres away.

"Don't even think about it," he called out calmly, as the seals tightened about her and four clones of naruto emerged from around her, each with the Rasenshuriken in their hands, preparing to throw it at her should she so much as move a finger. Hikaru's shoulder's slumped in defeat at the sight. She had lost; while there was no doubt that she could free herself in a similar fashion to how Midori escaped, there was no way, she would be able to escape the four spheres of such power and magnitude. EVen her lightning powers would be rendered it, wind neutralises lightning and if her observations were correct, Naruto's Rasenshuriken was wind-elemental based.

"I...surrender, Ashura-sama," she announced. Immediately the clones vanished and Naruto released the seal that was holding the blonde girl in place.

"I won't denied it, Hikaru-san," Naruto exclaimed. "You had me trapped there for a moment."

"Please...call me Hikaru-chan," she answered back mischiveously, before flashing him a small smile. Fate had placed them as enemies on opposing sides but there was no harm in her admiring this boy for his skills. Similarly, he was going to be with them for at least a few months, so she might as well start getting to know him.

_In Naruto's subconscious,_

**"Wow, didn't know he had it in him," Goku smirked. **

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><p>Chapter end.<p>

What happens next time when Naruto faces off against the head samurai?! Please comment and review guys! Anyway, STAY AWESOME!

Still trying to work out how the polls work...can someone give me a hand?


	12. Chapter 12

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO**

**Author's note: Hi again guys and YAY FOR MORE CHAPTERS! I'll be a bit honest this time round, there's been quite a bit of mental writer's block since I sort of got sidetrack along the past few days. Currently not really sure how this story will progress but I'll give it my best. I might have to abandon this...NAH, I've come this far, that quitting isn't an option anymore.**

**To Ryuujin96: You pointed out the fact that Naruto was too weak and that's because the moonlight forces were giving him a hard time. This is going a bit hard to explain but that's the premise of my story actually. Take note that these elites are just that; elite troops meant to escort someone important back to their home country which has been sealed off pretty much from the rest of the five nations. That's why they're so powerful; they're the cream of the crop, the best of the best the moonlight kingdom has to offer and if Naruto can just take them down, then what's the point of them being elites? Also, the training that Naruto did was only three weeks in terms of time. While mentally, he HAS indeed fully grasp the concept of the jutsus, he hasn't actually learned how to physically master it in the material world. If I intentionally made him over-powered now, then there won't be much fun and character development later on since he can just one-shot anyone later on.**

**Similarly the moonlight kingdom forces might be powerful but they're exhausted physically, mentally and spiritually. They've been trying to get back home for God knows how long and they haven't even managed to make a single step forward out of Fire Country. That's why they're asking for help; they're desperate and they're just so sick and tired of it all; from the ambushes, sleepless nights and to the constant fighting. So while they do seem to be able to take Naruto head on, they're still human and are nearly reaching the end of their limit.**

**On a side note: please please please stop suggesting I make Naruto more powerful than he already is. His powers are developing just right for my story's pace; if he gets too powerful later, it'll be too boring. I don't mind fanfics that make him over-powered but I don't want him to be over-powered in mine; it'll take the action away and all the tension will be gone.**

**Anyway, I think I've digress for far too long...SO ON TO THE NEXT CHAPTER!**

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><p><span><em>P.S I inserted a few little lines from a game of mine that I basically plagiarised for cameo and comedic effect. See if you can spot them! Like usual though, I don't own the rights to the game's dialogue so please don't sue me or anything . Remember, this is all for entertaiment purposes only.<em>

Chapter 12: The reason why we fight...

_At the spectator's stand..._

"Ow...I'm going to feel that tomorrow morning," a sore Hikaru muttered as she sat herself down next to the smaller of the two white cloaked figures. "I'm sorry my lady, I've failed you..."

"N-no you didn't, H-hikaru-san," the figure replied. "If anything, y-you brought h-honour to ou-our kingdom."

"Be as that may," Hikaru replied, rubbing her back. "Hanako-san won't be liking this match up."

"Wh-why is th-that, Hikaru-san?"

"Hanako loves a good fight just like the rest of us," Hikaru mused. "But if there's one thing she hates...it's losing."

Hai, the bluenette underneath the cloak thought. To be able to single handedly tossed aside two of our top samurais and still standing there is no ordinary feat. This might be your toughest battle yet, Hanako-chan...

_At the training ground,_

"Are you ready, Ashura-san?" the red haired girl asked as she unsheathe her sword eagerly. "I'm known as Lady Fire and I hope you are because I aim to win!"

With that the blade of her sword burst into pure flames as she took her battle stance in front of the young blonde. If anything, 'ready' was not the word Naruto would use to describe himself; his back was hurting, his muscles were sore and half of his reserves were drained, even though the moonlight essence that the samurai gave him were able to remedy that somewhat. There wasn't much time for him to muse, however, seeing as Tsunade was waiting for him to get into his battle stance. Sighing softly, he positioned himself for the incoming torment he was going to face.

"Ready as I'll ever be..." he muttered back.

"Begin!" Tsunade called out.

Contrary to the previous fights, both contestants merely glared at one another as they circled around. For Hanako, she'd learned from her two companions that a rush down wouldn't work on the blonde. This was no ordinary anbu, she realized. He had taken on two of their top samurai and was still able to stand there facing a third one without so much of a hint of exhaustion, despite the numerous high taxing chakra techniques that he had used previously. Something wasn't quite right, nobody would be able to last this long against the moonlight forces. Even she, who was known as a chakra monster by her friends, wouldn't be able to last this long but he was able to.

For Naruto, it was pretty much the same thing. Rushing in with the Sleeping Dragon stance was suicidal when it came to these samurais. Besides, jumping into a wall of flames would not be beneficial, health-wise anyway. Racking his brains to find an opening, he found none. There were both too cautious and neither wanted to make the first move, in fear or retaliation from the opponent. This wasn't someone who would played around though, the blonde deduced as he saw that spark in her eyes. If anything, she was going to make this as enjoyable and long as a battle she wanted to. That aside, he could feel raw chakra emitting from her slender build, five times as much as his two previous opponents. It was there and then that Naruto realized that he would have to end this better soon. And fast. He was in no shape or form to benefit from a prolonged battle and he was mentally, physically and spiritually exhausted. One thought persisted in his mind though...how in the world can someone have such an absurd amount of chakra reserves?!

The blonde wasn't the only one to be thinking such things, as a very agitated Kurama was wondering along similar lines.

_In Naruto's subconscious,_

**No samurai should have reserves similar to that of a ninja! he thought angrily. But these aren't normal samurai. Still...how can someone like her have ten times the usual amount of reserve as an ordinary jounin?!**

**"What's the matter Kurama?" Isobu asked.**

**"Red hair, blue eyes, monstrous chakra,"the ninetails growled back. "It seems there are still survivals afterall...but to be in the employment of the Moonlight Kingdom? Heh...that old man must have gotten senile after all these years..."**

**"You're not implying...?!"**

**"You forget, Isobu," Kurama replied once more. "I was the bijuu of three such hosts..."**

_Back in the training ground,_

As the seconds ticked by into minutes, Naruto finally lost it. If his opponent wasn't going to make a move and neither was he, then he was going to have to improvise. Placing his fingers into his signature jutsu, the blonde called out, "Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Over a hundred clones appeared immediately, scattered throughout the entire battlefield. The red haired flinched slightly at this sudden development but didn't have time for anything else as the clones began to rush at her with swift speeds, forcing her to counter their attacks with backhands, slashes, counter-slashes and even somersaults. Yet, for all their numbers, the clones couldn't even land a single hit on the red-haired, who only continued to increase the speed, technique and difficulty of her lethal dance, as she made her way towards the center of the battlefield.

How in the world does he have the chakra to maintain such a high level technique?! she thought desperately, as she fend off yet another series of attacks from incoming clones. As the clones began to circle around her, she bend down slightly before swinging her sword in a circle-like manner as she stood up from her bend position, creating a devastating shockwave that obliterated an innumerable amount of Naruto's shadow clones.

"I've never seen such a awesome display of swordsmanship!" Tsunade whispered.

"Me too, Tsunade-sama," Shizune whispered. Even her companions were awed at the skills of their comrade.

"It seems that Hanako-chan has been practicing her new moves," Hiruka commented, earning nods from all around. "What I would do to spar with her next time round..."

"You'll have to wait, I'm afraid," Satoru interrupted. "She promised me first hand before."

_Back with Naruto,_

"So tell me, Ashura-san...Do you like to play with fire?!" Hanako asked, a dangerous gleam in her eyes as she said so. A group of five clones rushed at her in a single file...only to disappear as she released a new wave of flames towards them from her sword just inches before their blows could hit. Hanako had seen first hand what Naruto's Swift Release could do and she wasn't about to waste precious chakra if the clones were somehow able to escape her fire, which resulted in her allowing them to get just a bit close into her comfort zone. Regardless, this was still a very risky thing to do and she would not have resorted to such a tactic if it wasn't for the training her master had given her all those many years ago. More clones started circling around her, forcing her to remain ever so vigilant but she was now getting restless; ever since the battle had started, she had only prioritize on defense. Her fatigue would catch up with her real soon, she suddenly realized if she didn't do something quick. Growling,she let loose another stream of fire, this time in a circular loop around her, "MY FIRE WILL TEAR YOU APART!"

"Watch. Your. Back!" Naruto answered, before emerging from the ground and delivering a devastating kick towards her exposed side, causing her to skid a few feet away from him.

How did he?! Hanako thought, before seeing the clone vanish. That wasn't the real him! But then...where is he?!

"Come out and fight me like a real man!"the red hair called out, visible angry now, the flames on her blade shinning even brighter than before. The clones only glared at her silently, preparing for her next attack. Her eyes now knotted into a deeper frown, Hanako placed the tip of her sword up towards the ceiling. It seemed that she was going to have to roast him out of his little hiding place, even if it meant devastating the entire battlefield in doing so. On the plus side, she wouldn't have to contend with this cheap imitations the shinobi called clones. "No matter where you are, no matter who you hide behind...I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN!"

"Then," the clones challenged as they all gang up on her in a single instant. "Let the hunt begin!"

Smirking at what the blonde had just gotten himself into, Hanako channeled a large portion of her chakra into the blade. The sword resonated with pure energy before erupting into a huge wave of fire that spread in all direction, with her as the epicenter. Everything within a fifty meter radius of the red-haired girl was completely and devastatingly incinerated; the ground was chared black and the air left blazing with the heat of a thousand suns. As for the clones...well, it was a good thing there were just clones. For the young blonde however, this situation just turned from bad to worse; if he didn't came up with something quick, there was no telling how bad the outcome would get. His mission would be over before it even began.

Fortunately for the young Uzumaki though, Kurama didn't just taught him the Hiraishin jutsu, without the necessary extensions that followed after when Minato began experimenting to see how far the Flying Thunder God technique could actually stretch. Once more, he recalled all the torturous amounts of raw effort and training that the ninetails drilled into him, along with the multiple lines of **"YOU HAVE NO TALENT WHAT-SO-EVER!"**. Talentless he may be, but a quiter he was not. It was because of that stubborn nature that all the Uzumakis' possess that finally spurged Naruto to expand the scope, skill and range of his father's infamous seal, although some credit was indeed due to the nine-tails, in a way.

So with time running short and the dreaded flames just a few seconds from impact, the blonde flew threw a new set of hand seals, that astounded the remaining eight bijuus, as well as angering a certain slug in the process. Three weeks was considered an impossible time scale for an amateur in the sealing arts to even attempt such a difficult and complicated technique, much less master it. Naruto might be an amateur in the sealing arts indeed but in terms of time, he had an almost indefinite amount of time. Similarly, he might not be the sharpest tack in the drawer but that didn't men that he was outright stupid. Maybe were of the opinion that the blonde's intelligence were far below shinobi level but that was where they were wrong. While he did indeed lacked the necessary concentration in paying attention to his senseis as well as the logic in maitaining a particular thought process, he made up for it by sheer cunning, quick quicking and witty imagination. Such skills made him an extremely difficult combatant to fight with for there was never really telling how he was going to actually execute a particular move.

As he finished the final hand seal, a yellow flash appeared once more in his left palm, followed by his father's signature kunai. In a voice that refused defeat and defied fate itself, he yelled the exact same words that his father did, all so very long ago, "NOT ON MY WATCH!"

Everyone's eyes turned from wary acceptance at the blonde's imminent defeat to sheer amazement and finally to pure disbelief as the flames appeared to be sucked into what seemed to be a vortex that materialised from the blonde's left palm. Even Hanako was caught completely off guard. No one prior to this Ashura, had ever managed to escape her death trap before, although many lived to tell the tale of the horryifing ring of fire that descended upon them before they landed up camatose in the hospital for months on end. Given enough time, the red haired would have found a perfect counter to this new technique but time was no her side. She needed as least a few minutes to complete her analysis of the blonde's jutsu but there wasn't enough time as minutes might as well be hours, for the blonde had now managed to complete neutralize her fire and was now preparing for a counter attack.

**KIT! That space time barrier won't hold for long! You need to disperse it! Kurama voiced out urgently in the blonde's head. Whatever you're going to do, I suggest you do it quick!**

I know! he thought back. Flinging the kunai back at the red haired, he went through another set of hand seals that aimed to slowly released and control the flames trapped within the kunai. The nine tails was right in his assessment of space-time barrier when he had first explained the fundamentals to him, three weeks ago. It was much easier to transfer a blast from one kunai to another, rather than to keep it bottled up in a little pocket dimension held in one kunai as he was doing right now. Pocket dimensions were not very large, per se but what made them really dangerous and scorned by many seals master were the fact that they were very unstable. Make a single mistake here and the next thing travellers would find of Konoha would be an empty hole the size of the grand canyon. Normally seals practitioners would never have done what the young amateur had just done, even in such a dire situations as they would have been horrified at such a consequence. But this was Kurama we're talking about and the bijuu was not taking no for an answer when he believed that his host was more than ready to execute such a jutsu.

Whatever faith he held in the blonde was returned in full as he saw that the blonde was indeed in total control of the situation. Despite this however, Hanako merely smiled at the blonde's antic. So...he was going to fight fire with fire was he? BIG MISTAKE, she thought. There was a reason why they called her Lady Fire and that was because of her total and absolute control over fire. Only one man had ever beaten her in a duel like this. And that man was her master. So, as the flames started attaining a more whirlwind-like shape from the centre of the kunai, the samurai merely held out an arm towards it. Already she could feel the raw power her flames generated and how great it would be to finally catch the anbu by surprise.

"By Fire Be Purged," she whispered to herself, as she regained control on her flames. It would be a little while before the sealed fire would be released but when they did, all Hell would be let loose.

Her tactic would have worked, had it not been for the meddling of a single bakeneko however. Matatabi, being a immense chakra cat made of blue fire herself, could already feel the shift in the sealed fire's nature and immediately knew what the samurai was planning to do. Dragging her young host into his subconscious, she immediately begun to work out a strategy out of what would have been a devastating defeat for the blonde.

_Inside Naruto's subconscious,_

**"Kitten!" Matatabi called out, when Naruto materialised in front of them. "I apologise for this but this is urgent!"**

"It better be, Matatabi," the young Uzumaki groaned. "I was about to win this match!"

**"More like lose it!" she growled back, earning shock looks from each of the remaining bijuus.**

**"Explain." Kurama demanded.**

**"Would using fire against someone who had total and absolute control over the element itself be such an excellent idea?" she answered back rhetorically.**

**"You can't be serious..." Kokuo muttered back, the sides around his eyes paling at the cats words. "Nobody has such power! Not even us!"**

**"There was one..." Gyuki answered solemnly. "One whose name vanished from history itself..."**

**"But this is neither the time nor place for that," Kurama growled back. "Point is, these moonlight samurais have proven themselves capable of complete elemental manipulation! Now, I don't care how far they're pathetic abilities stretch but what I do know is that I'm not taking risks with this blasted ginger!"**

**This time, a small choked up laughter erupted from the bakeneko as she saw how desperate the rest of the bijuus were. Arguments like this tend to occur among the tailed beasts and while she loved to bicker, she realised Kurama was right; this was neither the time nor place for that. "Really...can you think of no solution to this mess? Because I can..."**

**When the company didn't respond, she purred some more a bit, delighted that the attention was on her for the first time. Pressing on in a more serious but still playful voice, the bakeneko asked, "That Hanako might have complete control over _basic_ elemental fire but...what happens if spice things up for her by adding a bit of _bijuu fire_ into it?"**

**"You..." Isobu gasped. **

**"So what say you, Kurama? Goku?" she continued on slyly. "Along with my blue fire...I'm sure that'll effectively put a huge dent into that control of hers."**

**"I like where this is going," the four tails agreed. "Whenever you're ready, Kid!"**

**"So am I, Naruto," Kurama added, a malevolent gleam in his eyes. "Although...this time, let me do the honours."**

_Back in the real world,_

By now, the flames were within a few meters away from Hanako and were a massive spiral of red flames but still the samurai stayed her ground. There was no rush to things, she thought calmly. Slowly, carefully and patiently. Afterall, there was no rush to this. The battle was already won in her case. The blonde might have reflected her technique but that didn't matter to her at all. If anything, he didn't have a proper counter to her fire power at all, seeing he didn't even manage to summon any water based technique to counter it. Maybe he can't! she suddenly realised. Oh, the thought made her squirmed with delight. This battle was definitely hers. Similarly, his wind abilities might be dangerous but fire trumps wind just as winds trumps lightning. If anything, using wind would only hasten her victory, Hanako realised and that was probably why the blonde had refrained from doing so. No that it matter to her, either way however, since he was going to lose regardless of whatever he did.

Just as the thought crossed her mind though, she felt her control over the spiral of fire slipping, like a piece of thread being pulled apart until finally...it snapped. Eyes panicking this time round, she turned up and couldn't believe the sight that greeted her; blue fire emerged to mix with her original red flames, turning the spiral pure blue, before being replaced by what she felt as even hotter flames of red angry fire. Finally, flames in the form of a red fox's face emerged from the spiral's centre before mixing together with it, imbibing it, strengthening it...controlling it and then launching itself at her.

Stunned though she was, Hanako's samurai training managed to reassert itself into the young teenager, just barely allowing her to escape the wrath of the angry flames. The technique however, was far from over. If her power just now was considered a shockwave with raw fire emmanating from her, then Naruto's was considered an explosion. The fire fox apparition might have missed her but as it passed her by, she could have sworn the face smiled before exploding into a devastating blast with her being in a far too close proximity towards it. Just the heat of the waves was enough to force her into unconsciousness but just before she fell, she saw a brief yellow flash and then...darkness.

_At the spectator's stand,_

Everyone held their breath as the smoke subsided to reveal once more, the standing figure of the blonde Uzumaki carrying a slump figure over his shoulder. There was a slight buzz of movement as two more samurai went right down before appearing in front of Naruto. Seeing this however, Tsunade had enough.

"That is enough, Mitsuo-sama!" she growled. "Your samurai have nearly killed one of my finest shinobis! Not once but thrice!"

"Hai!" Shizune added. "His skills should be more than enough to the Moonlight Kingdom! What more do you want from him?! Death?!"

The old man held up a hand as he considered their comment before nodding slightly. "I agree. I was thinking along the same lines and you are right. Ashura-san is more than sufficient to guarantee our success this time round. I apologise for putting him through such an inconveniece..."

"Mitsuo-sama, I must protest!" Satoru interuptted. "You gave your word that he would be tested to the end!"

"And I will fullfill that promise," the older man replied. "Just not today. He's been through quite enough."

"What are you talking about?" Tsunade asked, dreading the answer.

"I am simply suggesting that we stop here for today...and continue tomorrow."

"You can't be-" Shizune snapped angrily before being silenced by a swift hand gesture from the older man.

"It was he who agreed to this death match, Shizune-sama," the man answered back evenly. "Now, Ashura-san is more than welcome to decline but if he does, then I'm terminating our contract."

"F-father, y-y-you can't!" the cloaked figure next to her argued.

"I can and I will." Then turning back to the godaime, he continued in a much milder tone, "You promised me one of your finest shinobis this time round. If he quits now, what sort of outstanding ninja would he be?"

"Are you insane?! You simply expect him to continue fighting so soon after what happened today?!" The man frowned at that.

"I hope you're not forgetting something Tsunade-sama," he answered back in a hushed tone that only the two of them could listen. "Shinobis never truly rest on a mission. It is their nature as such. Besides...why does a jinchuriki needs rest anyway? That bijuus of his should be patching him up nicely right now as we speak..."

The hokage merely glared at the older man after that. There was nothing more to be said.

His job done, Mitsuo stood up before signalling the troops after him. "We are leaving. I expect to be here the same time tomorrow morning. Will you do the honours?"

"I'll do it Tsunade-sama," Shizune said as each of the Moonlight troops blindfolded their eyes once more. "You need to make up with otouto..."

_With Tsunade,_

The godaime angrily made her way towards the exhausted blonde who was now sitting back up against a wall, as her assistant led them out of the secret taining zone. Satoru might have kept his word, she thought. But just like him, this Mitsuo person knew much more than he let on. Seeing the blonde in a daze state however, he mind panicked slightly until she realised that he was simply sleeping.

"You put me through a lot, you know that?" she whispered as the checked for his vital signs and injuries. Apart from a few minor injuries, he was as fit as a fiddle.

"Ramen..." he blonde muttered tiredly in his sleep. "Lots and lots of ramen..."

"You never cease to amaze me," Tsunade muttered shaking her head. "You truly are amazing, soichi..."

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><p>Chapter end!<p>

Sorry for this chapter guys. There was supposed to be another massive fight scene with the twins but I HAD TO BLOODY RE-WRITE EVERYTHING BECAUSE MY LAPTOP CRASHED RIGHT FROM THE START. IT WAS AWFUL! T.T

I know this chapter might not seem as polished as it is but please bear with it; I am extremely exhausted from having to re-write it but those are the breaks I suppose. As usual, I welcome critism on my writing skills and do please comment!

_What happens next time with the remaining two samurais?! Find out next time!_


	13. Chapter 13

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO.**

**Author's Note: **Hi again guys and sorry for the later than usual updates. I've been brainstorming a bit regarding a potential mid-quel for An Unexpected Reunion and that coupled with real life has been a bit hectic, to say the least. That aside, I've been a bit worried about how slow this story has been progressing and the reviews about this story going downhill. Still, the readers are right and I might actually have to hasten things up quite a bit actually.

Other than that, that's much else to say really other than YAY FOR MORE CHAPTERS! Also, I know this will offend a lot of people but I was thinking of turning this into a bit of tragedy for amusement. People like the fluff in my side story and I've been wondering how to expand that to a whole new level;

**[POSSIBLE SPOILERS]**

Question was:

"How do you make a flufflier than normal scene between two people when you know they are going to get together anyway?"

The answer I came up with was:

"You don't, unless you add in a ton of betrayal, hurt, angst and regret."

**[Spoiler ends]**

Regardless though, this is still a Naruhina story but I've wondering how best to target that particular plot development when it gets there. So does anybody hate a tragedy? If so, I might have to re-think things through again.

That aside, future plans include taking up Rose Tiger's challenge but I think I've written enough NaruHina stories for quite a while. I might have to scrap that idea aside. Let me know what you guys think about that.

ANYWAY, I'VE DIGRESS ENOUGH, SO ON TO THE NEXT CHAPTER!

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><p>Chapter 13: "Giving up" is not in my vocabulary<p>

_At Konoha's hospital that same evening,_

Bright images swam across his view as the teen opened his weary eyes. As the room focus to give a more discrete image of where he was, his mind adjusted to his surroundings trying to pinpoint what had actually happened the past few hours. His entire body was wrapped in bandages, his right arm in a sling and he was currently residing in the comfiest and softest bed than he had ever felt in his entire life. As his mind suddenly made the connection, Naruto reached out with his free arm and slapped himself across his forehead.

The hospital! he thought. Of course! Every living fibre of his entire body burned with an undying fire but he was no novice when it came to pain. Being a shinobi guaranteed an almost lifetime worth of it...well that of death really. However, even then, Naruto knew he had faced far more than even a normal shinobi would consider average for someone his age. That was because he was the jinchuriki of the ninetails as well as Ashura's current successor, a fact that the blonde was still very unsure about. Sure there was the prestige and power that came along with it but so too did the endless responsibilities and guidance as well. Not for the first time, the blonde wondered just what it is that made him the chosen individual out of a hundred million others, who in his eyes, were much more capable than he was.

This line of thinking, however, was soon eliminated when the events of the day began to return to him. All too soon, he began to wonder whether he had actually won the last match. As doubt turned to fear, he began to think about the unthinkable. Sure they wouldnt?! Without so much as a second thought, he grabbed the side of the blanket, tossed it away and prepared to jump straight out...only to find himself restrain by several straps made from some sort of highly resistant marterial that prevented him from doing so. Growling, he made for the first strap, only to be greeted with a sharp rap to his head, sending his mind reeling back to the point of subconscious once more.

"Don't make this any harder than it already it, soichi," a familiar voice greeted him from the side. "Your condition only stabilised about an hour or so ago."

"Thank God for that," Shizune sighed as she came into view. "Don't ever do that to me again, otouto."

"Let me go!" he complained, reaching once more for the strap that held him in place. Before he could free himself however, Shizune reached out a hand infused with green chakra and, targetting specific nerves and chakra point in his system, effectively severed the use of his left arm. The blonde yelped back in return, having witness firsthand the formidable capabilities of a medically trained ninja. He had never truly considered Shizune as a threat before but it looked like that was about to change today. Like Saiken, Shizune held somewhat of a strict but caring personality towards the blonde and felt that sometimes they were some things that he should or shouldn't do for his own benefit. When push came to shove, they weren't keen on intervening but intervene they must if they felt a need to do so. With him in the hospital, suffering from major life threatening wounds and being expected to fight immediately the day after, Shizune felt this was one of those times. They needed to get him ready for the upcoming fight tomorrow, even if they didn't want to.

"Well that takes care of that," Tsunade remarked, observing the brief scuffle between the two of them before turning back to Naruto's medical charts. "It seems like you've suffered from some broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder, two fractured femurs, multiple third degree burns and don't even get me started on your internal injuries or your chakra system. But tell me...how do you feel, soichi?"

"Perfect, now if you could just add a chakra severed left hand to that list of yours..." he answered back sourly. "Oh and one more thing, don't call me 'soichi' Tsunade-sama. I'm not your son and I don't need your pity."

If Tsunade showed any form of discomfort and emotional pain at his blunt remark, she didn't showed it. Rather, she merely pushed her glasses up before recalibrating the life support system that the blonde was hooked up to. That single action though, along with the well of misery behind those blue eyes of hers, was more than enough conviction for her assisstant to guess the real thoughts behind her actions. Masked though it was, Naruto's latest jab was far worse than any emotional wound she had ever felt before, ever much more than when she lost both her brother and her lover. Why? For simple fact that they was nothing she could have done to save either of them. Here however, was someone she could have, and indeed had in fact, JUST SAVED but who was rejecting her and her sincere affections, despite her best efforts at trying to mend the rift in their relationship. Yet Shizune knew she didn't have a say in it, were she Naruto, she too would have felt betrayed, at the mother figure he had so desperately look up to all these years, for witholding such vital information from him.

"Shizune, could you give us a minute?" Tsunade asked suddenly. Her assisstant turned towards her with a questioning look but couldn't fathom the unreadable mask her mentor had suddenly put on. As a doctor herself, she was well trained in the art of hiding emotions from her patients but something about Tsunade's tone made her believe that whatever she was going to say with Naruto was going to be beyond just a mere discusion between patient and doctor.

"Hai Tsunade-sama. I'll be right outside." With that she left, leaving the two blondes alone.

The seconds ticked by slowly as Tsunade worked out how best to approach the topic she had long dreaded ever since she made that accursed law. Sighing, she turned towards her foster son who, by the way, gave her an extremely nasty look before turning to face the other side of his bed. Her heart fell at his actions. If she was going to reconcile with him, she realised, she would have to talk to him heart to heart, not the way a doctor does so to a patient or the way a Kage does so to their subordinate but rather how a mother does so to her children. Still, never in her five years as Hokage had she ever seen Naruto act so...immature. He was always the one who had been helping others cope with their pain, she thought and that was the problem therein. The blonde has always been giving but had never done any taking. Also, despite all his acts of courage, bravery and so on, Naruto was in essence no more than a teenager. Being one, he was still prone to those fits of emotional turmoil that occur.

"Naruto..." Tsunade began. When the blonde continued to ignore her, her knucles cracked, before advancing towards him. Just before she did however, she felt incredible bloodlust emmanating from him.

"You going to hit me again?" he threatened darkly. For a moment, Tsunade could have sworn she saw nine beast-like apparitions appear from around the boy before fading out of existence. "Don't ever see you do that to anyone else...Tsunade-sama."

Seeing the way her hand was going to rap the boy once more, she withdrew it quickly. Horrified at what she was going to do, she tried to apologise for her actions, only to be cut off by him.

"Don't bother," he said angrily, his back still turned towards her. "You don't mean it anyway."

"What's the matter with you, soichi?" she asked, her voice laced with worry this time round. Never had she seen him act like this before and now that he had, she was beyond worried. Truth be told, it wasn't exactly the fact that she was always treating with with slight discontempt that made the young blonde angry with her right now this very moment. Nor was it the fact that he was still feeling betrayed over her previous actions regarding her law. Rather, it was the fact that she had effectively terminated the contract with Satoru-sama...without his consent and Shizune's knowledge. How did he find out? The host might be unconscious at the moment of the contract termination but not so the tenants when it came to matters of discussion. This was a mistake that the godaime would have to start getting use to if she were to even hope of keeping information from her foster-son.

_Flashback, three hours ago in the hospital room _

_"Lady Tsunade. I trust that you have an important reason for calling me over," Satoru said as he entered the room. "By the way...how is Naruto doing?"_

_The godaime gave a very wary look to the blind man before voicing out her thoughts, "He's doing fine and...I'm afraid he won't be in any shape for any more spars."_

_"You're not implying...?"_

_"I am," she replied firmly. "After everything that you've put him through, I'm aborting the mission."_

_"You can't be serious! What about the relations bet-"_

_"I don't care about the mission or our two countries!" she stormed. "I will not have him place in harms way!"_

_"You would doubt...the hero of the fourth shinobi world war?"_

_"Never...but that was then and this is now. He had friends, allies...people who he could trust in the war. I will not put him in the hands of those who have tried to killed him mere hours ago."_

_"That was not our intention, godaime-sama! You must belive me-"_

_"I do and I trust you...which is why I want you to inform Mitsuo-sama that our deal is over."_

_This time, the skin around the mans' eyes tightened before he answered back in an icy tone, "It seems the lack of trust that we've placed upon the five nations was the correct action afterall. We do not trust you...and you do not trust us."_

_"Its not that Satoru-sama," Tsunade apologised in a softer tone. "I...just can't bear to lose another person. Especially not him."_

_"You lose men everyday, what makes Naruto-sama so different?"_

_At that, Tsunade straighten up and mastering whatever remaining amount of dignity that she had left, exclaimed, "We may never see eye to eye but...he is the only thing left that I can call family and I won't have his life endangered because of my foolish actions."_

_"You were the one who assigned the mission in the first place!" the raven haired man argued back._

_"I did," she admitted. "And that my mistake. There was an incident...and I tried mending things by assigning him this mission but now I've realised what a horrible mistake that was. I'm sorry Satoru-san but...I am not sending my foster son to his grave."_

_"Very well," he replied grimly. "There will be no diplomacy between the land of fire and the moonlight kingdom, Tsunade-sama. Know this however, you have defied a direct negotiation from the king himself. If the fire lord finds out-we are not to be blamed."_

_With that, the blind man vanished out of sight, leaving her alone to her thoughts._

_I hate this job, Tsunade thought, dreading the moment of having to explain herself to the unconscious blonde before her. Unfortunately, the bijuus had heard the entire thing and had already beaten her to it...  
><em>

_Flashback ends._

"I said don't call me that," he muttered.

"Naruto, what's the matter with you? I've never seen you...this angry before," Tsunade asked worried. "Are you hurt somewhere that I didn't know about?"

"Yeah," he answered back, turning toward her with betrayal burning brghtly in his eyes. "Mind telling me about the mission cancellation?"

"How did you-"

Before she could finish her sentence however, there was a knock on the door followed by her apprentice's voice, "Tsunade-sama, I'm here as you requested. Is Naruto there?"

"You know what? Forget it. I'm outta here." With that, he vanished in a flash of yellow light, leaving the godaime alone once more. Sighly softly, Tsunade rubbed her left temple subconsciously. Never in a million years would she believe that Naruto would act so selfishly before and in such a manner. Still, there was nothing she or he could do about it. The mission was cancelled and their clients would be leaving tomorrow. No doubt, the Fire Lord wouldn't be too happy about this situation but there was little to be done there. Afterall, would he continued to risk the lifes of countless shinobi on one such mission when the village itself had just survived such a devasting low in the previous war. Tsunade certainly didn't think so. If anything, Naruto needed some time alone. No doubt this would struck another blow to their already fragile relationship but as Hokage, the village came first and as a shinobi of the village, Naruto had to respect the decisions of the Hokage regardless of whether he liked them or not.

"Come in Sakura," Tsunade called.

"Tsunade-sama," Sakura began until she saw the defeated look on her mentor's face. "Is...everything alright? Where's the baka?"

"Gone..." was the only she could say back. Instantly, there was a reaction from the pink-haired teen.

"He didn't just leave did he?!" she growled. Her mentor's silence was more than enough of an answer. "That baka! I'm going to-"

"You will do no such thing!" Tsunade interuptted in a commanding voice.

"Tsunade-sama?" Sakura replied in a meek voice.

"Listen carefully Sakura because I'm going to say this just once but...I think Naruto's suffered enough from both you and me. Not physical pain but more like physcological pain. He's...frustrated, more so than any other patient I've seen in a long time."

"Frustrated?! From what?!"

"Your rejection for one," she answered back carefully, causing her to cringe slightly. "Henceforth, I'm giving you a new order. You are to leave the Uzumaki alone for a period of at least seven days. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

As she made her way to the door however, Tsunade dropped another bombshell to her already growing list of resentment towards the blonde, "Oh, and while you're at it, I'm forbidding you from ever inflicting physical harm towards him ever again. If you so much as touch a single hair, you'll be assign to guard duty and placed on probation for six months. Do I make myself clear?"

"Hai Tsunade-sama..."

_With Naruto,_

**"Kit...talk to us," Kurama asked worried for the mentality of his hosts, a sentiment shared by his fellow bijuus.**

There's nothing to talk about, he thought back annoyed. Just...give me some time alone. With that the nine-tailed fox kept his silence. As Naruto made his way towards Ichiraku's ramen stand however, he stopped suddenly. It would be too easy should Tsunade decide to send an anbu party after him. He needed a place to collect his wits and regain his cool but this wasn't the place. So instead, he turned tail and began walking towards another popular stand, a Yakiniku (Japanese barbeque) restaurant that was some few miles from where the ramen stand stood. Unlike Ichiraku's stall however, this one was loud, boisterous and full of people. Sighly inwardly, he pulled his anbu mask back towards his face and readjusted the anbu gear that he had received a few days ago. His hair would be a dead give away but Kurama had taught him subtle skills to hide without drawing attention from anyone else. It definitely work with civilians but shinobis would be a different thing altogether. Still, ninjas resting in a bar shouldn't prove too much of a challenge, he thought. Afterall, he was there for a drink, just like the rest of them and their guard wouldn't be up when they were relaxing as such.

A waitress greeted him as he entered the restaurant and soon he was ushered to his very own table in a hidden corner away from the prying eyes of restaurant's audience. Sighing happily as he sat down on the comfortable seat before him, the blonde made a quick order of sake before waving the waitress away. For a while, the waitress looked as if she was about to argue back but decided against it. Underaged he may look but he was still an anbu and she knew the anbu corps wouldn't designate just anyone into their ranks. His order completed, she quickly retreated away, leaving him once more to brood over the events that had taken place that day.

I'm going to be like teme soon if I keep this up, Naruto thought to himself. Brooding was never a habit of his and he always hated the way Sasuke did it when they were still part of Team seven. Still, he realised just why the raven haired teen always did it back then. It gave him a sense of calm whenever he wanted to be alone, as well as allowing him to better analyze and order his thoughts. Granted, Tsunade only did what she did out of her own goodwill but...why was he so upset about it? Clarity seemed to be just outside his line of thoughts as try as he might, he just wasn't able to pinpoint the exact emotion he was feeling. It felt like his soul was an endless chasm of blackness right now. Just as the headache began to develop from such deep thoughts, the waitress brought over his much needed bottle of sake, before laying it down in front of him.

"Anything else, anbu-san?" she asked politely.

"No that will be all," he answered back. "Thank you."

**"I didn't know you drink, kitten," Matatabi teased as Naruto took the first sip of liquor ever since his days of training with Jiraiya. The firery liquid burned his throat slighlty as it ran down, causing reflex tears to form but he quickly blinked them away.**

Until today, I never even considered drinking, he thought back. Putting the cup down, he slolwy flexed his fingers before his shoulders and soon the rest of his entire being, welcoming the absence of pain. He was still feeling extremely sore but doubt that would last for too long. Being a jinchuriki does seem to have its advantages. Once his thoughts were collected, he thought back to the heart of his dilemna. He had prepared so eagerly for three weeks on the mission but now that it was aborted, he felt a bit lost. No doubt, there would be other missions that he could do but there was something about the moonlight warriors that astounded him. Be as that may however, the blonde knew that the Hokage's orders were absolute and while he loathe the way his foster mother had just so casually ended it, he still respected her judgement. Just when he was about to get up and apologise for his erratic behaviour, a large group of people entered before seating into the stand in front of him.

"Man that was a tough mission!" Naruto flinched at the sound of the voice. It was Kiba's! Glancing sideways, he made out eight people. Seeing his friends group together made lifted the cloud of heavy thoughts from his mind somewhat but he felt left out as well from being excluded from their little get-together. He was about to get up and join them but his instincts told him to hold his ground. So instead, he strained his ears carefully to make out what they were going to say next.

"YOSH! Gai-sensei said that a hard mission would always toughen a warrior's resolve as well as a shinobi's will!" The blonde cringed at the tone of the voice. That would be Lee, he thought with a small smile.

"Troublesome," another person muttered. Naruto rolled his eyes at that. No wondering who that would be. "So to who do we owe this little gathering today?"

"That would be me," Ino replied happily. "I just thought that it would be nice for all of us to meet up once in a while. It's been a while since we've ever done anything. Well...ever since Neji passed away..."

There was a moment of silence following Ino's line of speech as everyone including Naruto took the time to remember their fallen comrade. Neji might have been a stern, serious and by-the-book character but he was a true shinobi at heart. His presence would sorely be missed by all. There were even rumours that he had begun plans to reform the Hyuugas from their traditional and out-dated ways of thinking in order to close the gap between the main family and the branch family. Unfortunately his untimely demise meant that dream would never be fulfilled. It was a sad outcome but one that Naruto promised himself to one day remedy. He had given the brunette his word before on changing the way of the Hyuuga and it would be a promise that he would keep once he became Hokage.

"So Sakura...where's Naruto?" a cheerful voice broke out, trying to distill away the heavy atmosphere.

"Beats me," Sakura shrugged. "I tried getting to him but he's been avoiding me for the past month or so."

"Well maybe if you didn't hit him all the time, he wouldn't be avoiding you," Choiji exclaimed. When the pink haired glared at him, he held up both his hand. "I mean come on, who likes being hit everytime?!"

"Choji's right," the silent Aburame interuptted.

"What I do is none of your business," the pink haired replied. "Besides that baka got what was coming to him."

"He does seem to be avoiding us," Shikamaru explained. "What's up with that?"

"Hah, beat you he's too busy chasing skirts," Kiba joked. "A lot of girls would be after him being the big-shot that he is now."

"But Sakura-san said that nobody would ever go out with such a useless good-for-nothing idiot," Sai exclaimed, earning sweatdrops from everyone around and forcing Naruto to pour himself another cup of sake before downing it down with one gulp. Wherever this conversation was going, it wasn't good.

"That was a joke Sai!"

"But you said that-"

"Forget what I said!"

"Regardless of what you did say," Ino interuppted. "Don't you think you should apologise anyway to him?"

"No," Sakura growled back. "I will not apologise to that blonde baka! Never ever in a million years."

"Hmph women," the spiky haired Nara remarked. "Why do you treat him as such?"

"What? Beating him? Pfft, he deserves it. Besides...why do you guys treat him like an idiot as well?" She countered back.

"Well, he does act like an idiot from time to time," Choji admitted. "Like remember that time when he rushed in late for an exam?"

"Who could ever forget that?" Shikamaru teased.

"We've heard about it as well, didn't we Lee?" Tenten admitted. "There were a lot of other things we've heard too..."

"Hai..."

"Point taken," Shino answered. Unknown to them, their occupant behind them was very depressed at hearing this. The entire shinobi world might be looking at him with a new light now but the fact that despite everything, everyone in his close circle of friends still called and regarded him as the village idiot or the blonde baka made him little bit more than bitter at hearing such blatant remarks about himself. Another shot of sake disappeared as he was hearing this. Naruto knew that they were just joking around but the fact was that nobody like being made fun of. Worse still was the fact that he knew that he was powerless to do anything to stop them. They had always done this in the past, in his presence no less and there was never anything he could do to stop them. Teens tend to do this in a group and they always managed to find a lone individual whom they could bullied just to make themselves feel better about it. No doubt, they did care for him but it was the constant teasing and belittling that always got to the young blonde.

Complaining wouldn't do anything but aggravate the situation since everyone else would just ignore him and probably make it worse by telling him to be grown up about it. Needless to say, there would also be another who would be all too happy to club him on the head should he even utter a single word of defiance. Coupled that with the fact that, despite everything, his friends still regarded the blasted Uchiha with much reverence and respect placed a rather bad taste in his mouth and he was fed-up with the entire thing. Hence, it wasn't really surprising that he wanted a highly ranked mission to get away from everyone close to him for at least a couple of months. The next couple of lines he heard however,were worse than any teasing he had ever heard so far, however...

"So I heard he's been given a high ranked mission," Ino expressed boredly. "Is that true, Sakura?"

"Yeah right...what's that? Looking at plants?"

"You shouldn't be so critical, he might actually be given such a mission...one day."

"Bet you he's probably chasing skirts," someone teased. "I would too if I was Jiraya-sama's apprentice for two years."

A large round of laughing followed that. If they had been paying attention however, they would have heard a loud crack as the glass in Naruto's hand shattered. As the sake dripped from his now wet hands, the blonde slammed down the money for the bill, before readjusting his mask and began walking towards the door.

"Wi-will that b-be all, Sir?" the waitress asked, stunned by his actions.

"Yes," he answered her back in a husky voice. The laughter of the group turned to stares of bewilderment as the blonde hurriedly marched past them. The atmosphere had suddenly changed again as they felt strong bloodlust emnating from the blonde when he walked past them. All too soon, their expression turned to horror as they realised just who it was that was sitting behind them. The spiky blonde hair? That unsual deep voice? That bloodlust?

"Was that...?"

"We messed up big time, didn't we?"

Shikamaru suddenly got up before slaming a bill onto the table as well. "Well, what are you waiting for?! After him!"

A few seconds later, the entire tables of expereinced rookies were outside the restaurant looking for their friend but he was nowhere to be found...

_With Naruto,_

**"I told you that Hiraishin no justsu would come in handy one of these days," Kurama growled. "But where did you place the seal's formula?!"**

Not now Kurama, the blonde thought back. Presently, our young blonde was in the other side of Konoha as he made his way towards the hidden waterfall. Somenight this had turned out, he thought sourly. Not only had the bijuus informed him of Tsunade's decision but he just had to stumble upon the one restaurant where the rookies decided to hang out today. Add that to the equation that Naruto had nine extremely worried and very angry beast within him and things couldn't get any worse. No doubt, he would have to find some way to pacify the nine monstrous constructs of chakra or Konoha would be paid a huge visit from their real life counterparts and no doubt when it did, it would carnage.

**"Do you...do you want us to take care of them?" Goku asked silently, voicing the thoughts of the nine beasts together. **

To their dismay, their jinchuriki ignored them.

"**I've never seen Ashura's chakra so choatic before," Gyuki whispered worriedly.**

**"Nor have I," Choumei agreed. "Usually that would be Indra's..."**

**"You forget that Naruto's actions and personality match those of the real Ashura's the closest compared to the previous successors," Shukaku replied. "Well, if you discard his periodic tendency towards idiocy."**

**"The blasted tanuki's right," Kurama stated. "Ashura was always a serious person but I never expected his chakra to actually influence a successor before. This just can't be happening."**

**"What are you talking about?" Kokuo asked worried. All eyes were on the ninetails once more.**

**"When a successor is chosen, they don't just inherit Ashura's chakra themselves," Kurama explained. "They also inherit his traits, idealism and hope for the future. It's the same throughout history. Indra's successor has always been the same broody, angry and self-centred power addict whereas Ashura's has always been that of an optimist hoping for the best. However, whereas Indra's sucessor has always been one where the inherited chakra would infused very strongly with, Ashura's wouldn't."**

**"Is that why the personalities of the Indra's successor tend to be the same throughout history?" Matatabi wondered. "Because Indra's chakra would...warped their minds?"**

**"Partially," Kurama went on. "Grandpa Rikudou told me that being a succesor was like being a debt collector. The more you tend to draw on that inherited power, the more that power influenced you and that in turn, caused you to become more like the originator in response."**

**"But none of Ashura's sucessors were ever influenced this much before!" Saiken argued. "Consider Hashirama, he drew on that same power himself many times, being forced to fight with Madara and you to boot!"**

**"Yes, but maybe Grandpa Rikudou was wrong," Kurama hypothesised. "Maybe it isn't the act of drawing that power that influences the person...maybe its the thoughts driving that person that somehow activates the inherited chakra."**

**"So you're saying that...Indra's sucessors turned out to be like him because they chose to use that power in order to become more powerful?" Isobu concluded.**

**"Exactly," Kurama reasoned. "However, never in all my life have I ever experienced a successor with which Ashura's chakra would bind to this strongly before. It seemed that my original thought that Ashura's successor had to be fighting for someone or something other than himself would cause Ashura's chakra to infuse with them was wrong."**

**"Then what was it that would cause the chakra to bind with Naruto to this extend?!" Saiken demanded. "It looks as if its going to devour the boy!"**

**"Think about it Saiken," Kurama stated. "Ashura used to be a carefree person himself, or so we were told. What was it that would cause his personality to shift so dramatically into the cold, detached and serious person that he later became?"**

**"His brother's betrayal..." the slug answered back. "So...if your theory is right, its this feeling of betrayal from his friends thats activating the chakra to this extent?"**

**"That's a weak argument!" Shukaku argued back angrily. "The kid's not that petty!"**

**"Shukaku's right," Kurama continued on. "It isn't so much this act from his friends but rather everything that's happened to him up until now. Think about it; from the villager's hatred towards him, to the constant ostracization of him to Sasuke's defection and even the events leading to and after the war. All this would have been enough to jar him."**

**"A lifetime worth of suffering but why now?" Gyuki asked. "What could a little teasing hope to compare with such traumatising events?"**

**"Sometimes...its the little things that count," Kurama sighed unhappily. "All those events that I witness throughout his life, Naruto would just merely file them away...ignoring them, refusing to accept them. But this small and insignificant thing must have led to a tiny crack in that subconscious wall he had built to house the pain inside of him."**

**"And if that fragile wall cracks," Isobu started.**

**"Everything else would be released," Matatabi concluded. "Every pain, every suffering, every thought...everything that would cause him to experience the same amount of pain that Ashura did once upon a time ago."**

**"Hai," Kurama noted sadly. "Grandpa Rikudou told me that the world didn't need another Sage of the six path. They needed another Ashura. However, he also told me that none but the true inheritor of Ashura's will and strength would experience the pain of tenfold that of the original." **

**"Grandpa Rikudou did say that its the _predecessor that chooses the sucessor_ but not the inheritor," Goku mused. "Ironic that in this case its the inherited chakra that decides it."**

**"What does it mean for soichi though?" Saiken continued.**

**"I'm not sure," Kurama confessed. "Throon ughout history, there's always been a balance between the sucessors of Indra and Ashura. Indra's sucessor would always be able to draw on that power much more strongly than Ashura's but because Ashura's chakra never bound so strongly to any one person, it has managed to not only accumulate to such a tremendous amount but also incorporate some of each previous predecessor power themselves as well."**

**"That must be why with each coming generation, Ashura's sucessor would always be more progressively more powerful than Indra's..." Choumei realised.**

**"Hai but I worry for Naruto...we may need to restrict his potential growth. At the very least, he will gain a tremendous rise in strength, speed, intelligence and even chakra control over the next few weeks. With the strength of countless generations before him, he would make short work of the real Indra himself!" Kurama exclaimed.**

**"No one should wield such power," Isobu muttered.**

**"Hai," the remaining beast agreed. Once more, they watch as the chakra silhouette of Hagoromo Otsutsuki's younger son fully merged with that of Naruto's chakra, generating a large flame like aura that flared wildly about him. Whatever the tailed-beasts bargained for...this was not one of them.**

_With Naruto at a crowded alley,  
><em>

As the blonde miserably recounted all that happened to him in the village from the moment he was born, he soon realised that whatever he was fighting for, just wasn't there anymore. All his passion, drive and so much more was always taken for granted. No doubt, he knew this was just a passing feeling of resentment towards his friends and that undying determination and will would return but for the moment, he savoured the feeling of self-pity and misery. He had never been given a chance to properly contemplate his past or felt sorry for himself but now that he did, he felt slightly better. He knew that these were dangerous thoughts however, feeling sorry for yourself would only get you so far since you never actually got around to finding the solution to the problem but right now he didn't care. Nobody had ever felt remorse, regret or any other emotion to him, or so he thought. So if they didn't, they he would do it for himself. It sounded childish, selfish and pathetic but given all that had happen to him up until then, nobody could actually judge him for his actions. Besides, what he was doing was considered the norm for a teenager his age as well as the fact that this was just another step towards his growing maturity.

His thoughts were cut short however, when he saw a group of chuunins approach a small crowd of three girls dressed in kimonos wondering about the streets. Given the fact that the blonde had spent two years with a self-proclaimed "super pervert" made him an expert at spotting one and the lecherous grins the males were sporting were more than enough to confirm his suspicions. He sighed, feeling sorry for the three girls at having to deal with the antics of such immature boys. Some shinobis think they can get away with everything just because they're a tiny bit better than everyone else, he thought gloomily. He began making his way towards them when his eyes widened at the recognition of just who the three girls were; one had green hair, one had yellow hair and one had red hair. It wasn't a surprise seeing as to why the chuunins were eyeing the group, considering their attractiveness but Naruto knew if he didn't do something fast, things were going to get ugly...for the chuunins that is. The girls did not wear their usual armour or their trademark katanas but that didn't make them any less dangerous than they already were.

"Well, hello there ladies," one of the men said as they approach the yellow haired girl. "Need some shinobis to show you a good time around?"

"Hentai!" Hikaru chided as she slapped the pervert sharply across the face. Both Midori and Hanako grimaced at the actions of their youngest member but the damage was done. As the disgraced shinobi glared angrily at them, all five men formed a semi-circle in front of the girls, forcing them to take up a defensive formation themselves.

"We don't want any trouble," Midori stated calmly. Her body was still recovering from the fight she had earlier and while she had no doubt that she and her friends could take down the group of men in front of them, she would preferred not to. Such a commotion would only attract attention towards themselves and if anything, that was the thing they wanted to avoid the most. Unfortunately, her two friends weren't as keen on such an idea. Already Hikaru was smirking dangerously while Hanako was craking her knuckles. Before anything could happen though, there was a blur of movement and the next thing anyone knew was that a yellow haired anbu was standing between the two groups.

"Stand down shinobis," Naruto ordered, getting glares of discontent from the group of chuunins in front of them, as well as a squeal of excitement from the blonde samurai. One of them, possibly the leader, grabbed the helm of his shirt before shaking him roughly.

"Get out of the way," he called out. "We saw them first!"

All three girls shot him disgusted looks at that.

"As an anbu officer, I'm ordering you to stand down!" Naruto tried once more.

"You think that just because you're an anbu that we're just play along with you?" another chuunin answered as both groups got ready for a direct physical confrontation. Midori sighed and Naruto groaned. Desperate times called for desperate measures.

"No, its because I'm this person that I expect you to stand down." Having said so, the blonde removed his mask and as the group of chuunin saw his face, they immediately paled before taking a step back. Only the leader showed any sign of retaliation.

"Let's just go..." one of the subordinates said.

"Please. if he's truly Na-" Whatever he was going to say next was unknown as the blonde delivered a quick uppercut, resulting in the poor man being flung down onto the floor where he laid there unconscious.

"Do you need any more confirmation?" the Uzumaki asked, redoning his mask once more. The group of guys shook their heads quickly before grabbing their fallen comrade and disappearing via shushin. Turning to the group of girls behind him, he asked, "Are you gi-"

Unfortunately for him, he too never got to finish his sentence as a very happy Hikaur jumped at him, causing the two of them to fall straight to the dirt floor.

"My hero!" Hikaru called out mischieveously, earning a blush from Naruto and sweatdropped from her two team mates.

"We apologise Ashura-san," Hanako started as both she and Midori began to pry the excited sixteen year old from Naruto. "Hikaru tends to go...a bit overboard when she does things."

"Though this is the first time she's fallen for any guy so far we've known," Midori muttered angrily. "but thank you anyway for saving us from that bunch of misfits."

"Think nothing of it," Naruto answered back, trying his best to ignore the starstruck eyes of the young Hikaru. "If anything, let me apologise for the actions of my fellow shinobi. I hope this doesn't change your view on the Hidden Leaf."

"Well, aren't you a chivalrous man?" Hanako laughed. "We were just taking a look around. Care to join us?"

"Please do!" Hikaru begged, dodging a sharp rap to the head from her green haired friend.

"...do I have a choice?" the blonde answered when Hikaru grabbed tightly onto his arm.

"Not so as far as she's concerned," Midori sighed. "Let go! You're causing a scene!"

"Do I have to?" Hikaru whined back. Midori shook her head at that. Place a group of killer S-rank ninjas in front of her and she would decimate them without so much as another thought but when she couldn't get what she want? She starts acting like a four year old...

Before he could answer back however, the group of Konoha's rookies appeared in front of them, causing Naruto to flinch.

"I told you Akamaru would lead us to him," Kiba expressed happily. "There's Naruto!"

"You have a lot to explain...Ashura-san," Midori said as she took a stand in front of the Konoha ninjas. "Is this really worth the trouble, Hanako?"

"You heard Mitsuo-sama," the red haired girl replied. "We won't be leaving until we get confirmation of the mission's termination from the Ashura himself."

This just got a whole lot more annoying, Naruto thought at the scene that was soon to unfold in front of him.

* * *

><p>Chapter end!<p>

What happens next time when the Konoha 11 vs the Moonlight Samurais?! Find out next time!


	14. Chapter 14

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO.**

**Author's note: **Hi again guys and sorry for the later than usual updates. There's been a lot of distractions for me lately where when you actually get the time to sit down and work on your chapters, then suddenly someone or the other manages to interfere with your writing causing you to horribly loose that creative writing stream and shutting out your active imaginations. BUT I DIGRESS...anyway-YAY FOR MORE CHAPTERS!

To Ryuujin96: You quoted that the rookies were being a bit too critical about Naruto. Well, when I actually wrote down the chapters, I did review that particular line of thought but throughout the entire manga, I did indeed feel that even after everything that Naruto has done for Konoha, they still take him granted. It's a sad fact of life really. People don't tend to realise just how good they have it until its too late. This was one of the things I wanted to play around with. Also, while the Konoha 11 do indeed care for Naruto, they aren't above teasing him from time to time. This happens frequently in the manga if you pay close enough attention. I feel that as teenages and young adults, it was one of the few things that people their age group tend to do. However, like most people, they don't particularly realise just how bad the person they picked on actually feels because they weren't the one doing the teasing. As such, this became a potential plot twist in order to further the plot as well as to open the rookies eyes to just how much the blonde suffers. If anything, I still feel they don't appreciate him. Its just like another viewer suggested; the people who care most about his well beings actually came from outside the village. NOT Kakashi, NOT Tsunade and DEFINITELY NOT Sakura. It was only when he was about to die that the later actually got all panic. I would say more...but you guys don't like spoilers now do you?

As for Tsunade, well...I would say that she was justified in her actions. After witnessing just how powerful these people are, she's probably skeptical about them needing a guard. Also, if anything, she certainly cares for her foster son but not in the way others think. Ever wonder how your parents somehow force you to do something you don't particularly like but they thought it was good for you and which you felt was well within your jurisdiction to argue back as a young adult? That's probably how Naruto feels right now. Some parents find it incredibly hard to let their children go. Tsunade isn't one of them but after seeing how the moonlight people treat Naruto, she's perhaps reconsidering her case just this once. In all aspect, Tsunade is one of my more mild mannnered characters and while she's definitely not on my top five favourites, she definitely earned her place as Hokage.

As for a certain pink-haired girl; my opinion of her has gone horribly down. I wasn't much of a hater now but the last few chapters of the manga has started to resurface my Sakura-hater tendencies. Seriously, in all aspects, I just can't see how much of an idiot she can really get. Blatantly confessing your love to Sasuke on the battlefield? Really? You call yourself the smartest kunoichi and you still act like an idiot? Either she's too naive, love makes people do stupid things or Masashi Kishimoto decided to toy with her a bit. I don't mind the last one though XD If anything, hopefully he'll do it a bit more. Sasuke has also gone down in my book. From avenger to traitor to jerk, I really can't stand him anymore. After everything that Naruto has done for him? If it was me, I put him in a horrible death but that would be bashing and as I once stated, I don't like bashing characters since it offends certain people views of their favourite characters. I know some people will perhaps ramble on about how unfair I'm being but this are just my thoughts on the blasted pair. I respect other's opinion on who they like and I hope the readers do to on who I like or dislike. If I was unconcerned about the readers, I would have killed the two of them from the start [then again I was mildly beginning to appreciate the two about three months ago] but it would be unfair for some.

BUT I DIGRESS. Anyway, on to the next chapter! Once more, let me apologise for the late update guys .

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><p>Chapter 14: I'm going, no matter what!<p>

_Confrontation between the Konoha rookies and the three Moonlight Warriors,_

"Told you he was a skirt chaser..." Kiba whispered, dodging a blow from the pink-haired, as Sakura eyed the three girls with particular interest. The rest of the rookies had assembled carefully behind the Inuzuka once he had gotten a fixed location on the blonde and had wasted no time in trying to make amends. Still, the same thought was going through everyone's mind, "Why was the blonde boy, who had never resisted any or all forms of teasing from them, suddenly showing such unbaised anger and resentment towards his friends who were standing right in front of him now?"

Like many young adults, they were still learning and hence why we shouldn't judge them too harshly for their lack of empathy towards the blonde. Afterall, as a shinobi or kunoichi, such feelings weren't allowed in their line of work seeing as they actually had to perform tasks such as assasinations and cold blooded kills from time to time. Yet, for all their actions, shinobis were still human. Also, an act of murder might seemed cruel but what was crueler than that was perhaps the act of killing one's emotions as the rookies had always done towards Naruto by making fun and belittling him. What made it far worse, if you were to consider it in retrospect, was that instead of having his enemies do such a thing, it was actually people who he cared about and who he had come to view upon as family who were actually inflicting such pain. Such a thought would have been enough to push anyone towards the edge of depression. Everyone would die sometime or another but having your emotions butchered time and time again was only something only the strongest can do and out of those only a handful were able to drag themselves out from the pit when the cause of their misery were, ironically, the people closest to them. People never realised just how bad an individual actually felt until it was too late. Of course, the best course of action against such an act was to find someone to talk to. Unfortunately, the blonde had no one to talk to considering everyone in his close circle of friends were just like everyone else and why he had developed a lot of mental and physcological scars about him. A decade worth of misery hid behind that sad smile of his but through a series of traumatic events that started two weeks ago, it had managed to be broken this very day. For once, there was a look of utter and sheer misery upon the blonde's face that, lucky for him, was hidden well behind his mask.

"Naruto...?" Ino called out carefully. "Is that...is that really you?"

"Since when did he joined the anbu?" Choji asked bewildered at the blonde's new change of fashion. There were equal looks of interest from the way everyone was staring at the blonde's new uniform. However, despite Ino's sincere care and worry for the blonde, as well as the remaining rookie's cause of concern towards him, the anbu teen merely turned away from them, his back towards them as he made his way towards the hidden waterfall. For all intents and purposes, he was not in the mood for any of them, not the rookies, not the bijuus, not the samurais and definitely not the village. Before he could take another step however, the three samurais re-appeared in front of him, blocking his path.

"Wait up Ashura-san," Hinako pleaded.

"I don't know what happened between you and them..." Hanako started. "But...Mitsuo-sama requested your presence regarding the mission cancellation Ashura-san. Would you at least grant us this courtesy before we leave?"

"It was not within my jurisdiction as such," he answered honestly. "The Godaime reserves the right to cancel and abort any mission and I...as an anbu of the Hidden Leaf, am requested to follow them through. I am sorry though, Hanako-san. I was looking forward to seeing your homeland."

"Then perhaps you still have a chance to," Midori cut in silently. "Mitsuo-sama knows about the duties of the Hokage but that doesn't mean that they aren't other ways to circumvent the authority of the village head."

"I will not do anything that will go against the leaf," Naruto answered back firmly. "Regardless of my...displeasure at the Godaime's decision, I still respect her deicision as such and I will follow through as such."

"Then trust us when we say that this will indeed benefit both our countries," Hinako replied. "The Hokage is...wrong in this regard."

"Think about it," Hanoko cut in. "If you deny this chance now, any form of reconcilation between our two countries will be permanently disabled. Do you really want such a weight on your shoulder?"

"Very well," he sighed. "But unless you provide me with a reason to accept the mission legitimately, I'm afraid I will have to decline. I will not risk branding myself as a traitor when there are so still much that I have yet to do for the village.

At that, the three samurai all knelt down on one knee in front of him, earning shock looks from everyone else in the surrounding vicinity.

"You have our word, Ashura-sama," all three of them said in unison, clasping their hands in the signature posture of respect for the samurai. "We are forever in your debt."

"Who in the world are they?" Tenten asked, seeing the formal way they treated the blonde as if he was a daimyo himself.

"Man, why does he always get the ladies?" Choji whined.

"Three beauties to boot," Kiba wolf-whistled. "Lucky guy..."

As the three samurais began escorting him away. Sakura called out, "Wait up Naruto!"

That stopped the blonde in his tracks, as well as earning looks of surprise from her fellow rookies. Slowly, almost dramatically, the blonde turned towards her, "What do you want?"

"C'mon Naruto," Shikamaru tried. "We know you're...upset at-"

"Upset?" he growled back, tearing the mask right off from his face. "I'm not upset. I'm extremely ticked off at how you and the rest of that bloody team behind you treat me like a piece of disposal paper after everything I've done for this village!"

"Yeap, he's pissed..." Choji murmured.

"Come on!" Sakura chided back, ignoring the deadly glare that Hinako was shooting her with. "We're were just having a little bit of fun, what's gotten into you?"

Deciding that ignoring the pink-haired would be the best course of action, Naruto chose otherwise. However he didn't count of the fact that Sakura would take this act of his as an insult to her face as well as the fact that she would have responded as such. Unfortunately, he also didn't count on the fact that someone else would intercept the blow that was mean for him as Sakura lauched herself forward; moments before fist and face met, there was a blur of movement before Sakura found herself face to face with the oldest samurai in the group, who immediately took it upon herself to stop the angry teen. As Midori reached out an arm to grab hold of Sakura's incoming wrist with great speed and percision, the pink haired teen found herself gasping at the sudden spasm of pain that followed with the severing of the wrist from the arm before being lauched back fifty meters with enough force to break a wall. As her surroundings zoomed back into focus, she found herslef lying on the cold hard ground with the Konoha ninjas forming a defensive line in front of her.

"My apologies," Midori called out coolly, as she brushed aside the dirt that had collected on the sides of her shoulder. "But I'm afraid we can't let you harm Naruto-sama as we have very important matters to discuss with him."

"You knew..."

"Wasn't hard to figure out silly," Hanako frowned as she too took a stance in front of Midori. "But don't think we're doing this for you, blondie. In fact, as far as we're concerned, Mitsuo-sama requested only you for this mission and getting you back to him right now is our top priority."

"I...see..."

"Don't mind her, Uzumaki-chan," Hikaru answered back as she re-attached her hold on the blonde's arm. "She's just grumpy that Midori-chan got the first hit that's all."

"Stand down," Shikamaru ordered as he stepped out to face the four youths. He didn't like to do this but seeing as he was in fact the higehest ranking member out of their lot, he had a responsibility to uphold. "You've broken a law for attacking a Konoha ninja. According to said law, you are now under arrest for attempting such an act."

Before the rest of the rookies could do anything however, their blonde team mate suddenly stepped in between the two opposing forces. Even the three samurais were stunned at this sudden development. Why would he, a shinobi of Konoha, defend three foreigners from his very own comrades? Such an action went against logic itself.

"What are you doing, Naruto?" Tenten snapped angrily, as she too got ready into her battle stance.

"Standing up to the people who stood up for me?" he answered back calmly. "Regardless of what Midori did...it was for my sake. If you have any arguments, I suggest you take it to me and not them.

"That wouldn't be a wise idea Naruto..." Shikamaru muttered.

"He's right Naruto," Shino agreed quietly. "Regardless of your current standing with the villages, the village clans would not be very happy if they found out what you just did to each of the clan heirs..."

"Besides, how could you stand up to us, your friends?!" Choji added. "Are you just going to discard everything that we've done for you up till now?!"

"I'm not discarding anything," he answered back neutrally. "I'm just standing up for what I think is right and from the way I see things, they have done nothing wrong."

"Nice that you think of us that way, Naruto-san," Hanako grinned, as the samurai themselves readied themselves for the upcoming battle. "Welcome to the party."

"Is that your decision?" Shikamaru sighed. "Then I guess you leave us no choice, Naruto!"

Having said so, each of the rookie nine lauched themselves at their opponents.

"Choji, you and I will take the red hair girl!" he yelled out towards the charging Akamichi. "Sakura, Ino, take care of the green one!"

"Me and Lee will deal with Naruto!" Tenten called out.

"And the two of us will deal with the blonde girl!" Kiba replied, indicating him and Shino.

_With Naruto, Tenten and Lee,_

"I apologise Naruto-san but please understand that I am only doing this for the sake of the village," Lee yelled as he delivered a devasting kick to the blonde's head. Compared to when he last fought the samurais, Lee's movement was faster and the Uzumaki also knew just how much more painful it would be if his blows did land. That coupled with the fact that he still wasn't fully recovered left little doubt that he would have to finish this battle fast. The problem was, Tenten didn't make it easy for him either. As he turned to dogde the incoming blow, the brunette managed to catch his left ankle in a chain from one of her many weapons, thus crippling his movement and slowing down his speed. The next blow from Lee managed to hit dead on onto the blonde since he couldn't shake himself free from the brunette's grip.

Such synergy, Naruto thought, as he was sent sprawling into the ground. As he struggled to get onto his feet, Lee continued to rain blows upon blows of punches and kicks in order to subdue his fallen team mate. No doubt, Lee knew just how powerful Naruto was and while he loathe the fact that this was far from a fair fight, he also knew that he wasn't in any position to take any chances. As the blonde lay dazed by the sudden ambushed, Lee muttered out a silent apology before delivering one last final blow to his head.

"I'm sorry Naruto," Tenten whispered, not daring to glance the strike that was to come.

"Gomen," Lee muttered as well.

What happened next chilled both him and his team mate to the bone however, as their masked anbu friend simply caught his fist easily before replying in a blood curdling voice, "**Tsk, you really are a handful, Kit."**

"Who the heck are you?!" Tenten called out warily. "What have you done to Naruto?!"

There was a sudden blur of movement, followed by intense screams of pain and howls. The next thing a horrified Tenten knew was that a huge mess of broken bones and bloody appendages was tossed to her side...it was Lee. If she was afraid before, she was beyond hysterical now.

**"What I've done to Naruto is not the important thing here," a hoarse whisper appeared behind her. Turning quickly, she threw a fistful of shruikens at her wouuld be assailant only to find that he was nowhere in sight. When she turned back, he was in the exact same position he was previously but was now walking towards her in a very threatening manner. "What you should really be worried about is what he's going to do to you!"**

"Kyuubi," she thought aloud. "How dare you take control of my friend! Release him this instant!"

The blonde cocked his head at that but there was no way she could tell whether he was amused, angry or even affected at all by her outburst seeing as the mask was still in place. For a moment, both opponents stood still as the tension between the two of them built up. As a realist, Tenten knew that they was no way she could hope to match the blonde's skill, especially after seeing the way he made short work of Lee but as a kunoichi of Konoha, she also knew that such a act demanded retribution. The only problem was, how was she going to subdue the blonde without hurting him?

**"Hmph," Kurama suddenly muttered through Naruto's mouth. "It seems the Kit does not want you to be harmed. Be grateful for that."**

Having said so, he turned around and began walking away from the brunette. This was the opportunity the brunette was looking for. Taking hold of it, she wasted no time in emptying an entire scroll full of sealed weapons onto him.

"Secret art: Rise from the ashes!" she yelled as weapons ranging from all shapes and sizes were released, littering the entire battlefield before them and laying waste to multiple stores in the surrounding vicinity. People had long fled the scene when they saw two groups of opposing forces about to clash with one another and it was a wise thing that they did considering the amount of carnage that took place that very evening. By the time her technique was over, not a single piece of uncover ground was left and for a heartbeat's moment, the brunette was horrified at the fact that she might have gone a bit overboard. She had reacted on instinct due to her kunoichi training but killing the village's hero was never her intention. Rushing to the littered ground, she began searching around for the hint or sign of a body, anything to put her mind at ease. Unfortunately, it was all in vain.

"What have I done?!" she screamed. "Naruto, where are you?! This can't be happening. Someone tell me this isn't happening! No...no...no!"

**"Stop yelling," a quiet voice called out from behind her. The next thing she knew was a sharp pain in the base of her stomach. Looking down, she saw a hand sticking out from it followed by the imminent cough of blood from her mouth. Then...darkness.**

_In Naruto's subconsciousness,_

"You went too far!" the blonde screamed, as he was restraint by eight beasts. "Give me back my body!"

**"I only did what you couldn't" Kurama growled back angrily.**

"YOU COULD HAVE KILLED HER! YOU DAMN FOX!"

**"SILENCE!" Kurama roared, daring him to argue back. "Liten and listen well Naruto. I will not sit idly by and watch my student suffer such an outrageous beating at the hands of another just because he was too hesitant to strike back!"**

"They were my friends damnit!" Though the rest of the bijuu did not dare to challenge Kurama when he was in such a mood, the blonde wasn't. As usual, his sense of justice opposed any form of fear whenever things were pushed beyond his comprehension...and right now, his instinct was telling him that Kurama was in the wrong.

**"The kit's right, Kurama," Saiken interuptted, voicing her support of the blonde's defiance. "Those shinobis might be a bit too harsh in their treatment of our jinchuriki but that doesn't mean that they don't care for him or he for them!" **

**"With friends like those, you're better off with enemies," Kurama argued back stubbornly. "Did you not hear the way they made fun of him earlier on?!"**

**"That's not the point, Kurama," Kokuo insisted patiently. "Humans are imperfect and they are young. Can you justify not ever making a single mistake in your life before?"**

**"Besides," Isobu chipped in. "Did you see their faces? That Lee looked as if he wanted to kill himself everytime a blow struck Naruto..."**

**"And that brunette was in hysteria the moment she realised what she had just done," Goku argued. "You might not like this but the fact remains Kurama; They were only doing this because of their job as shinobi."**

**"Fine!" the ninetails snapped. "I'll fix both the ***** and her manservant back the way it was before."**

_With Midori,_

"I suggest you both stop," the green haired girl called out to the panting duo. "Unlike Naruto-sama, I would not hesistate to strike you down."

"You think you're all that, don't you?" Sakura growled. Ever since the fight had started, they had not even managed to land a single hit on the green haired girl. To make matters worse, she had not even broke out a sweat. Whoever this green haired girl was, Sakura was really beginning to dislike her and it wasn't because she broke her am earlier on. "What's taking you so damn long, Ino?!"

"I can't do it!" Ino called back. my mind transfer jutsu won't work on her."

"Try all you want," Midori taunted back. "We moonlight samurais have been condition to undergo intense training so as to resist the effects of such techniques. There is no way you'll be able to take control of both my body or mind."

"I don't care where you come from or what they did to you," Sakura growled. "Why did you help the baka?! You could have save yourself a lot of trouble! Besides, he's used to my beating him."

"You should not have said that," Midori answered back quietly. Faster than they anticipated, the atmosphere was suddenly filled with a dense and heavy form of pure chakra as Midori summoned her earth based powers. As both girls stared in shocked, she pressed on, "I don't know how you leaf ninjas treat your comrades but Naruto-sama told me something during our brief scuffle earlier on."

"Sakura, don't!" Ino warned but her best friend didn't heed her warning.

"What? Did the baka complained about my treatment of him? He should have said something if he was upset instead of running to someone like you!" It was that very sentence that would be her undoing as Midori immediately lauched an earth-enpowered punch onto her torso, just enough to inflict unimaginable pain but not unconsciouness. Fear raced through her as the now frowning eigtheen year old held her up with one hand.

"He did nothing of the sort," Midori answered her back. "When I said 'he told me' I meant that he was able to convey his feelings of anger and resentment he towards me when we crossed blades. What really roused my curiosity however, is that he exhibited the same amount of anger and resentment when he met you. Now, the next question really is...Were you the one who caused him such unbearable torment?"

"W-what's it to y-you?" she stammered. "It does not c-concern someone s-such as yourself."

"Hmph," Midori answered back. Then turning to Ino, she tossed the battered pink haired towards her before continuing, "Indeed. It is none of my concern but if this is how you people treat the hero of the fouth shinobi world war then you do not truly deserve him. A pity really that the very people he sought to protect have returned the favour with such cotempt and disregard."

With that said, she turned away from the now unconscious Sakura and the quivering blonde. Ino, however, was not done with her just yet, "That's a lie! We care about Naruto! We would gladly give our lives for him! How dare you make such a blatant remark!"

That stopped Midori in her tracks and turning her head ever so slightly, she silenced the blonde with her next choice of words, "I don't doubt your sincerity and I believe you but does Naruto-sama trust you as such? We have a saying back where I come from. Its this; 'a blade of metal kills a man once but a blade of words kills the same person a thousand times over'. If you truly value Naruto-sama, why then, during my fight with him, was his blade filled with nothing but misery and sorrow?"

With that said, she coninued her slow pace, leaving the Yamanaka rooted on the spot.

_With Hanako,_

"Choji to the left!" Shikamaru ordered as the Akimichi launched himself straight for the red-haired teen. Hanako merely sidestepped away from the incoming boy, before sticking her leg out and tripping him.

"Whoops," she called out boredly. The battle of wits had long strated between the black haired Nara and her, though his big boned friend managed to cripple his strategies each time round. As an accomplished tactician herself, she savoured such a battle of the brains between the two of them but for all his grandour, Shikamaru lacked one thing; physical conditioning of his body and time and time again, Hanako had managed to dispersed his shadow based jutsu with nothing more than a simple flame while the Akimichi tried to distract her.

"You're good, I'll give you that," the nara suddenly panted. "But I'm not giving up."

"Bold statement," Hanako mused. "But can you followed it up?"

Once more a thin trail of shadow raced towards Hanako's figure, eager to bind her movements to its master...only for it to be dispersed when the red-hair girl shot a thin steam of fire against it. Shikamaru frowned. No matter what he did, that fire of hers was the perfect counter. He needed to think outside the box. Given enough time, her would have been able to figure out a well planned tactic against her but the way he was now, there wasn't much he could do as his opponents was continously firing fire balls at her.

Hanako had heard of the infamous intelligence of the Nara clan and she was not taking chances with him. Her master had once told her to never give an enemy an opportunity to strike back and she was doing such. She didn't want to kill him but she also didn't want to hurt him. Such an action would only dampen the reputation of the kingdom. Thinking out a strategy wasn't easy as well since the Nara's companion was more frustrating to deal with than he was.

"Super Open Hand Slap!" Choji suddenly yelled as he got up and hurled an enlarged fist towards her face. Sighing, Hanako decided that enough was enough. Going through a few hand seals, a sword suddenly appeared in her hands before she unsheathe it and sliced a rather long and deep cut along the Akimichi's arms, severing nerves and tendons, rendering it useless. As Choji howled in pain, she flicked the sword in a flustered manner before turning back to the Nara who was now nowhere to be seen.

"I know you're hiding somewhere," she called out loudly. Just as the words left her mouth, exploding tags began raining down on her from above as she suddenly saw the Nara made a mad dash towards his injured friend. Amused at such an unexpected, but futile technique, she merely shushin away to where the Akamichi was. Just before Shikamaru could reach him, the red haired samurai arrived first before positioning her blade at Choji's throat.

"How did you...?" Shikamaru trailed off as he saw the numerous tags of seals pastered all over her body. One thing ran through his mind, either this girl was extremely brave or extremely smart.

"It's simple really," she explained. "I knew those seals of yours would be fake simply because you couldn't risk setting up a large scale explosion that would destroy a huge part of Konoha itself. Now, I'm going to ask this just once, are you going to make this easy...or hard?"

"I...surrender," Shikamaru muttered. "Just don't hurt my friend."

"Never even thought of it," Hanako replied, as she re-sealed her blade, her mind wondering about her companions' fate.

_With Hikaru,_

Presently the battle between the Inuzuka, Aburame and Hikaru had suddenly reach a standstill, if you could even call it at that, as both Inuzuka members were lying on the floor utterly drained and Shino located a safe distance away from the yawning blonde. Right from the start, Shino had realised that they were vastly outmatched by the blonde samurai in front of them, a fact that Kiba stubbornly denied. Perhaps it was pride or maybe a desire to test his abilities but the Inuzuka had just rushed straight in to the fight, despite Shino's warning. The result was rather interesting to say the least, considering that young Hikaru had managed to dodge each and every form of attack from Kiba and Akamaru, all the while teasing him to make it much more interesting for him as well as condemning him to be a far worse opponent that Naruto. If there was one thing Kiba hated, it was being compared with the dead last. While he had no doubt that Naruto was the stronger between the two of them, his pride wouldn't let him or anyone admit as such and that was what led to the current situation.

I'll show you who's better! Kiba had thought to himself when he first rushed in to the battle. I've improved since I last met the kid! I'll show you who's better. Unfortunately, like so many of his companions before him, the Inuzuka neither realised nor was aware of the fact that the Moonlight samurai weren't taking the fight half as seriously as when they fought Naruto. While they indeed had a deep thrist for battles with worthy opponents who could truly stretched the limits of their strengths, the confrontation that all three of them were facing right now were nothing more than child's play in their eyes. Afterall all, what could nine chuunins hoped to compared with the vast numbers of anbu squads and elite jounins that were going always against them in their aim to reach the Moonlight Kingdom?

Despite exhausting himself however, Kiba was still a Inuzuka and like all Inuzukas, he was stubborn and had refused to give up in the fight with the young blonde. This time, however, as he forced himself up, there was a new found form of respect in his mind as he eyed the still bored-looking Hikaru. She may look innocent, he thought warily. But she can move like lightning! This whole time, I've been played by her just because of her words and yet she has managed to exhaust me without so much as lifting a single finger! I hate to admit it but this is one beauty I can definitely do without...

"Oh, you're going to try again?" Hikaru called out cheerily before taking up a more defensive position.

She ticks me off more than Sakura! he yelled mentally before signalling to Akamaru. Nodding at his companion, they began charging towards her once before morphing into a spiral of vicious rotation, "Passing Fang!"

"Kiba, wait! It's a-" Shino cautioned, realising all too late as he saw the smirk on that angelic face of her once more. This time though, instead of simply sidestepping, the blonde merely held her ground and that only made matters worse for the Inuzuka. Seeing his chance for victory, he had snatched up the bait, although Akamaru had seen through the ruse and had managed to stop himself from potential harm. His master though, wasn't as lucky, considering the fact that just before he reached the blonde, he suddenly found himself crashing into a huge impenetrable wall of yellow lightning that filled every fibre of his living being with an unimaginable amount of pain. Suffice to say, this was the first time in his life Kiba had ever felt so alive...as well as the fact that it was also the only time in his life that he had even considered the notion of begging for the peace of death. As the fallen Inuzuka lay crumpled up on the floor, his body a massed of charred and tattered rags, the sound of lightning crackling could be heard from next to him.

"-trap," Shino finished lamely. Cursing his comrade's lack of caution and the trouble that he had managed to get himself into, the Aburame began thinking up a way to rescue his friend without crossing the dangerous Hikaru. So far she had only exhibited two of her abilities to him; the first was her terrifying speed and the second was her sudden control and manipulation of lightning chakra. While Shino was awed by her display of powers, he was not looking forward to finding outthe rest of what she was keeping in that arsenal of hers. More importantly, he didn't want to be a poetential target to her repitoire of jutsus and skills. Unfortunately, it seemed that Hikaru had managed to deduce the Aburame's trail of thought, as she had immediately re-appeared in front of Kiba, a bolt of gleaming lightning in her right hand, held at the Chuunin's neck.

"Don't even think about it," she called out, voicing the very same words that Naruto had used against her that very afternoon. This might have been an easy battle but that didn't mean that she was allowed to take any chances. Such an action stunned Shino as he wondered just how the carefree girl who had been dealing with Kiba only moments before suddenly morphed into having a serious demeanor, only for sense to followed afterwards. Shino could only sighed inwardly as he realised that that act of hers previously was nothing more than that: an act. He didn't know if this was a favourite tactic of hers but he knew one thing; it had worked and it had definitely worked against someone of Kiba's calibre, seeing as he was no one to do things planned but just jumping straight into the crossfire. There was only one thing left to do if he wanted to save Kiba's life...

"I give up," the Aburame announced as he lifted his hands up before walking towards her at a slow pace.

"A wise decision," she whispered, before allowing the arc of lightning in her hands to vanish. "But before I let the two of you go...I want to know one thing."

"I will try to answer it to the best of my abilities," Shino answered back neutrally. He knew that giving out secrets regarding the village was against the code of conduct that the leaf ninjas followed but he also knew, somehow or another, that she wasn't going to be demanding village secrets, seeing as she had made short work of their finest batch of chuunins in such a short amount of time. If anything, the price was worth it considering that his friend's life was on the line.

"What is Naruto-sama to you?" she asked carefully, her face a blank mask as she studied the Aburame's expression. Like her, Shino showed no emotion outwardly but inside there was utter turmoil. Now that he had witness first hand what enemies could do to him and Kiba, without the aid of their long time friend, he had no idea how he could answer that question. All this time, he had thought that they were an unbeatable team and now he realised that the rookies, were indeed, an unbeatable team. Key word though, was 'WERE'. Key and central to their undying victory as the rookie nine in the past was due to one person; Naruto and now that they had actually managed to shun him aside, they weren't undefeatable anymore. Now, they were nothing. Shino knew that while he had never done anything particularly rash towards Naruto and had always remain silent in the belittlings of his other more liberal team mates, he had done nothing to stop them. A true friend would have stood up for Naruto but he had done nothing of the sort. Instead he had remained silent, so as not to implement himself into the teasing. Now he was ashamed. He was ashamed that he had never stuck up for Naruto, he was also ashamed that it took something as important as a life or death situation to open his otherwise normally keen eyes but most of all, he was ashamed that it was an opponent that had opened those same eyes.

Hikaru saw the conflict going through behind those glasses of his and nodded grimly to herself. As deceiving as lookd gets, this sixteen year old was perhaps the most deceiving out of all the kunoichi at her age. Like the other samurais who specialised in some form of attack pattern or another, Hikaru's was unique in that she actually specialized in physchological warfare, her match with Kiba being one of them. She would lull them into a false sense of security before following it up with a quick and decisive blow. It was for this fact as well as her numerous tactics of wearing down the opponent both physcially and mentally that she was considered a genius in physcological warfare. Had Ibiki decide to cross her in such a game, no doubt both fighters would fight themselves in an unfavourable position as they would eventually reached an impasse. This was because, despite being a genius, Hikaru was still the youngest member of the moonlight forces and unlike Ibiki, she lacked the more subtle skills at wearing away at an opponents mind. However, given enough time and even Ibiki would stand no chance against her once they reached the same level of experience.

"I...I don't know how to answer that," Shino admitted guiltily, his head downcast. "I thought we...were friends...but..."

"Friends wouldn't do what you or he did, would you?" she finished, pointing to the slump body of Kiba. "You're a good man I can tell but what kind of a person would just make sacrifice his comrade's safety for his own?! Friends are suppose to help one another, not one doing the shielding while the other does the hiding."

"Y...you...don't know...what you're...talking about..." Kiba struggled as he clung desperately onto consciousness. "We would...give up...our lives for him..."

"It seems that you are not lying," the blonde observed. "And I applaud you for your honesty but riddle me this, if you would give up your lives for him, why would you cause such unbearable emotional pain and trauma towards someone you considered as a friend? Or rather...why haven't you stop to consider the outcome of your actions instead of continuing on your mistakes? Change is necessary for the world of shinobi and samurai alike but it seemed that you leaf ninjas are unwilling to change. For all your accomplishments, you failed to realised your greatest mistake in shunning the very one who you fought so hard to protect in the fourth war."

With that she turned away from the two speechless ninjas, "If it were up to me, I would have dragged Naruto-sama to the Moonlight Kingdom but he holds too much loyalty to this village."

"His loyalty is justified," Shino argued back with rare emotion. "We grew up together, everything that we achieved and failed, we did so together. As one."

"As...shinobis...of the hidden leaf!" Kiba gasped.

"Perhaps..." Hikaru mused. "Best you reconsider your preception of Uzumaki-sama."

"One question," Shino asked, stopping her in her tracks. "Why do you care so much for Naruto?"

This time, there was a genuine smile on Hikaru's face as she answered back, "When the strong do battle, a form of understanding is forged between the two of them. This stems from the fact that they are trying to achieve a particular goal, no matter how different it is. Naruto-sama and I are one of many pairs. It may not matter to you but as comrades of such a shared fate and yet of different loyalties and ties, it does not mean that I may not admire and respect his perserverance and struggles that he has done thus far. One last riddle for the two of you before I make my exit...how does it feel knowing that your opponent holds a much greater respect and reverence for your dear friend than you yourself? Does it make you make you happy or sad?"

With that she left, leaving the two alone to their thoughts.

_With Naruto,_

"I guess we're pretty much done here," the anbu commented as he approached Midori, Hikaru and Hanako. Between the four of them, he looked the worse for wear considering the amount of punishment he had endured from Tenten and Lee. "Let's go girls."

"Hai, Naruto-sama," they answered back in unison. I'm going to have to get used to that, he thought.

"Wait...don't go...Naruto..." a voice called out behind them. Turning around, they found Lee supported by a very pale looking Tenten as the rest of the rookies watch the outcome unfolding before them. "We...need...you...You can't...leave the leaf..."

"You're actions have proved otherwise, Lee," the blonde answered back darkly. "You and the rest of them. I'm so done with all of you."

Besides, I'm not betraying Konoha, he thought slyly. But they don't need to know that. This particular thought earned smirks and growls of approval from the bijuus.

"Regardless, those three have violated a law," Shikamaru interuptted. "Unless you stand aside, you will be arrested along with the rest of them."

"Besides, Tsunade wouldn't be very happy with you," Sakura muttered as she got up slowly. "And neither would Kakashi-sensei."

"See if I care," Naruto growled. "Besides, won't it be a joyous occasion having the village idiot who was also the dead last leave, so as not to tarnish the reputations of the more gifted members of the rookie nine? "

To say the rookies were shocked at this blunt remark was well-warranted. They knew their comrade to be the obscenely overpowered power-house that he was known to be but to actually be handed a proper individual mission that demanded such diplomatic negotiations as well as the courage to finally stand up for himself? That was definitely something to be shocked about. The blonde that they always knew was the happy-go-lucky, do-as-you-are told and don't-you-dare-argue-back-against-me ninja that they had come to learn. Then again, it suddenly hit them; throughout their times as comrades, they had never ever given him a chance to prove himself as such and it shamed them terribly. Some of them, like Shikamaru and Shino were disappointed at the way they had view their blonde comrade. As ninjas, they were always being told to be able to see through people and yet they weren't able to see past their biasness regarding their close friend. Others however, like Choji and Kiba were, sad to say, a bit jealous at this particular revelation. The two of them along with Naruto, were always considered the worst of the rookie nine and now that he had managed to break that mold, it upset them to no end that they wouldn't be able to make fun of him as such anymore. Perhaps the most annoyed at this turn of event though, was Sakura. Never had she seen the blonde being given such high appraisal, and that coupled with what she had to go through the past coupled of days because of him made her exteremly miserable and jealous that everyone was treating him with such high regards and respect as well as condemning her for her actions towards the blonde. Like Kiba and Choji, she suffered a bit of inferiority complex due to the rookies considering her as the weakest link of Team seven. Perhaps it was this that started her relentless beatings towards the blonde. Afterall, if she could manage to keep him in line, then wouldn't that prove that he was the weak one in their team and not her? If things kept up the way they were, Sakura would either have to find herself changing her opinion of the blonde or avoiding him altogether.

Unfortunately, her pride got the better of her and she would do neither of those things. When Sakura fell for Sasuke all those years ago, she not only develop feelings towards the raven-haired teen but also his superiority complex in belittling the blonde as nothing more than a nuisance to the team. Such a habit, which had managed to grow for four years, was not going to be easy to break...especially considering the fact that the pink-haired girl would have to do a complete psychological "turn around" regarding the blonde, an action that would no doubt, force her to accept him as being both superior in terms of ability, talents and leadership than her as well as forcing her to accept her short-comings as a kunoichi and those of her beloved Sasuke. The former was already hard to achieve since no one in particular likes admiting their mistakes but the later two were considered impossible for her. There was just no way Sakura would ever admit that Naruto was better than her or Sasuke and she was never, under any circumstances, going to beg for his forgiveness, even if her mentor had forced it upon her. It was strange how Sasuke's influenced managed to change her but considering the fact that she was always vying for his feelings, it wouldn't be surprising if she managed to pick up a few of his habits subconsciously.

"Let's go, Naruto-chan!" Hikaru suddenly squeak, grabbing onto her blonde counterpart's hand once more before leading him away and earning yet another blush from the Uzumaki.

"You can alway count on Hikaru to break the tension," Hanako sighed. "I know he's all powerful and all but what does she see in him?"

"Don't look at me," Midori replied. "From the way I see it, the both of you are more trouble than you're worth. Are you, perchance, related to Naruto-sama?"

"Hah, fat chance!" With that, all four of them left the vicinity.

* * *

><p>Chapter end.<p>

That's it for this chapter guys, sorry it took so long to update. The beginning was very dragging and I know Hanako's fight was pitiful compared to Naruto's, Midori's and Hikaru's but I was out of time and I didn't want to make you guys wait any longer.

Anyway, don't forget to review! What happends next time when Tsunade finds out the rookie nine were completely and utterly decimated?!


	15. Chapter 15

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO.**

**Author's note: **Well, there is really much to say this time round since everyone was reasonably happy with the last chapter, so I might as well get writing to it while I can. Anyway, thanks for the reviews guys, they were very useful for the critical ones and the non-critical one were just as awesome. Right, there will be a few more chapters left before we start getting into the meat of the story where our heroes will begin the long trek to the Moonlight Kingdom. Now however, is the post-training, break arc.

For Ryuujin96; you stated that Shikamaru would have done something-hmm, the fact is that he never did anything before to stop Sakura but I don't blame him really [would you?!]. Also, the rookies definitely know that the samurais are not from Konoha. However, bear in mind that their mission is highly classified and hence why they ried stopping them. Had Tsunade been there, she would have teared out her hair if she found her forces toying with people they should not even toyed with, especially considering that they managed to survive one of the more...milder backlash.

To Northwind1994: I AM NOT A MONSTER!

Anyway, that's pretty much it for this chapter, so lets get on to it before I start digressing shall we? Stay awesome guys!

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><p>Chapter 15: Roots<p>

_At the Konoha hospital after the beatdown that evening,_

"Who in the world could have done such a thing?" Shizune asked as she immediately got to work mending Lee's battered body. "Tsunade-sama!"

"Did someone called me?" the hokage called out, as she stepped out of a patient's room. Upon seeing the state the rookie nine were in however, her eyes imeediately widened. "I need my emergency kit now! Sakura! Where are-what in the world happened to you?!"

"Naruto's new friends did this to us," her student muttered as she sat herself down upon one of the many chairs. "I'm fine though but the same can't be said for Kiba, Lee and Tenten."

"What kind of friend does that boy even have?!" the hokage muttered back, her mind in a faraway place as she began going through the medical procedures. Like what the pink haired had said, most of the rookies had only suffered minor casualties, apart form the afore mentioned three. "I told you not to aggravate him when he was in such a unstable mental state!"

"I didn't do anything," the pink-haired teen protested as her mentor shot her an angry frown.

"Its true Tsunade-sama," Ino interuptted. "Sakura didn't do anything...or rather she didn't do anything that lead to this predicament directly anyway."

"Oh? So humour me," the Hokage asked sarcastically. "What did you do?"

At that, Sakura paled. This was not a discussion she wasn't going to like. "We met...Naruto that evening and...one way or another, he got angry at us."

"What did you do?!" the Hokage nearly yelled. The rest of the rookie nine hug their head in shame as Sakura began to painfully recount the happenings of the evening. While Tsunade's face darkened with each word, Shizune kept hers as a blank mask. It wasn't until the discussion of the three samurais that both adults had horrified looks on their faces.

"Stop," Tsunade demanded as the meaning of the words sank in slowly. "Are you telling me that...Naruto went with those three?"

"Hai Shisou," Sakura answered back carefully. "Even after we begged him not to..."

"Shizune," The Godaime ordered. "You take of this. I have very important matters to do..."

"Can we help?" Shikamaru asked. Like the rest of the rookie nine, the samurais' words had a definite impact on their perception of the blonde and because of the guilt they were currently feeling, they were desperate to make it up to the blonde.

"You've done enough," Shizune answered back darkly as their village leader left. "Some friends you've turned out to be."

"We didn't mean it..." Tenten told her. "It...just sort of happened..."

"Well, maybe next time, you should think before you say anything," the medical ninja snapped, effectively ending the conversation.

_With Tsunade,_

As four anbus black op units appeared in the Hokage's office to receive their new mission, the Godaime gave them specific orders and direction in order to reach their moonlight clients current residence in the village. he knew there was a slim chance that they would have departed Konoha by now but considering the fact that the rookies had immediately turned up after the confrontation, this seemed unlikely. In the worst case scenario, they would at least have a fresh trail to follow if the blonde had indeed gone with them. If not, she hesitate to consider the alternative. It was never easy to strike down a shinobi of Konoha as a missing-nin. Naruto, however, was no ordinary missing-nin though, there would be other nations that would be all too happy to recruit him as their own and she doubt even the firelird would allow her to do something as such. If anything, she didn't want her foster son to vanish from her life. Too many times had her loved ones left her; she had already vowed never to let the past repeat itself ever again.

"Is that all, Tsunade-sama?" the anbu squad leader asked.

"One last thing," she answered back. "Drag that foster son back of mine by force if you have too. Do whatever is necessary to bring him back. Execution of lethal moves is allowed but...don't do anything that might inflict permanent damage."

"Hai Tsunade-sama." With that, the four anbu members left, leaving the Godaime to paced about her office. She knew Naruto wa angry with her and experience had taught her that he was not one to follow orders, especially if there was a good reason for him to go against them. The argument of helping both nations as well as the village's reputation was more than a good reason for the blonde to argue otherwise. Although, she thought grimly. He's most likely doing this as a way to spite both the rookies and me.

"Those four might not be enough," she sighed, as she rubbed her right temple. "But who would dare face Naruto?!"

"That would be me," a quiet voice called out from behind. "Shall I take that as a yes?"

"Kakashi..."

_With Naruto,_

"We're here," Midori said suddenly breaking the silence, as she led their small group to the most expensive looking hotel in the tiny village. Both her companions sighed out in relief but Naruto had a very wary look on his face as he eyed the building in front of him. resently, they were in one of the most luxurious streets of Konoha, in which the hotel was also located and while the Uzumaki loved the village, this was his most disliked street due to the horrible memories he had when he walked through it. Discounting the usual glares he would have had as a four-year old, there were also a few villages who would tried to bar him from enetering said street, although two dark figures, who he now realised were most likely shinobis in disguise, would 'persuade' the villagers against such an action. There had even been a lone villager who had tried to inflict bodily harm on his small frame once, only to have himself arrested. Naruto never learnt what had ever happened to the troublesome person but seeing as he never bothered him anymore, the blonde couldn't care less. The worst tthing however, that happened to him was when a villager pushed him onto the floor once just because he took a liking to a fox mask. Needless to say, the store was forcibly closed by the Sandaime the very next day and a very furious villager had left the village that same morning, vowing to never do business ever again in such a horrible place.

All those memories saddened the blonde but there were also wonderful one. He remembered when he was helping out in the re-building of Konoha, and villager after villager kept coming up to him with remorseful looks as well as apologetic words on how they had treated one of their own with such harshness and yet he had came back to saved their wretched lives after Pain's invasion. Naruto had readilly forgave them and, much to his shocked and surprise, each of the wealthy merchants that owned the stores and shop houses in the street, had offered him a lifetime worth of supplies from their shops without so much as a cent of repayment. Of course he had declined, but the more he did so, the better the offers the merchants gave him, until they even begged him to pillage their stores and wares in order to make it up to the hero who had saved not only their livelihood but also their families. In the end, Naruto promised to take a single item from their stores every month, less he find himself flooded with useless supplies every single day on account of their gratitude. If that wasn't enough, then maybe the monthly compensation of 1, 700, 000 yen from the merchants would be able to convice you of the blonde's plight. The most ironic thing that had happened however, and he couldn't stop laughing whenever he thought about it now, was that he had returned home to his broken down apartment one day, only to find it ransacked and empty with a notice telling him that the entire village had replaced it with an enormous mansion that located just next to the Hokage's monument. What was ironic was that the blonde had always complained about his broken down, smelly and barely livable quarters but now that they had offered him something that was worth tens of thousand of times better, he had furiously fought back, even demanding that they returned it back to him. Such an antic shocked the villagers but because this was the first favour that he formally asked, they were hard-pressed to do it. Regardless, he ended up receiving a mansion that even the Hyuugas looked to in envy.

Even now, the blonde was against removing his mask for fear of being recognised. He remembered walking down the street one day and muttering, "I'm hungry" only to have stallholder after stallholder rushing towards him before effectively dragging him towards their store. That had been a horrible day, the blonde thought, considering that many civilians had actually been injured due to the fact that they had literally fought one another over having the honour of serving the blonde a free meal, as well as providing free publicity to anyone else who might be outside their store that the famous village hero, was dining in their humble establishment. It was only due to the intervention of Ichiraku, who reminded them that, Naruto loved his ramen recipe, that effectively sent the whole lot of them rushing towards his stall, demanding his poor daughter in coughing it up. All this and more, was more than enough to put a small smile on his face seeing as the villagers now not only loved him but even looked up and respected him to a far greater level than even their Hokage. Unfortunately, and this wiped the smirk of his face, the rookies didn't paid attention as such and had in fact teased him more about it, after Pain's invasion.

Now however, a new thought was running through his mind, why would such an important person like Mitsuo stay in such a public hotel when he knew that there were many ninjas after him? Also, being a noble would have endowned the older man with more than enough funds to stay at such a luxurious site but wouldn't he be hard-pressed to be saving every single drop of his funds, considering the fact that he must have spent a huge amount on account of his failed travelling six months ago? Either my client must be very rich, Naruto thought warily. Or he must be used to a very extravagant lifestyle. Such a thought did not escape the samurais' notices however, as they recognised his body language and mentally smirked to themselves.

"Its because of the fact that we're so very cautious that we dare to stay at such a place," Hanako explained, answering the blonde's unasked question. "Think of it this way, if we've always been able to counter whatever ambush tactics that our enemies have tried on us in the past, what makes you think that they won't be thinking along of the lines of 'oh they're so cautios that they won't be stupid enough to stay at such an obvious place'."

"So you're...being discrete about your presence by...being obvious about it?" the Uzumaki asked amazed, shocked at his sudden but clear grasped on the tactic.

"Exactly, Naru-chan," Hikaru exclaimed, still attached to her fellow blonde's arm. "Its effectively reverse physcology. You be surprise at what the enemy would do if they think too much."

"What happens if...they don't?"

"Then it would be to our credit that despite living in such luxury, we always have at least three guards awake every single night for such an outcome," Midori answered as she tried prying her blonde friend off the anbu. "Will you let go?!"

"Make me!" the blonde girl growled back, earning sweatdrops from everyone nearby. Seeing that she was unwilling to do so, they dropped the matter, only to be stopped by the hotel manager as they began to enter said building.

"I apologise anbu-san," the manager started. "But our hotel has this strict policy against having masked people. We've had to many assassination attempts and I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to remove that mask of yours."

"That's silly!" Hanako argued back. "A ninja is as deadly when dressed casually as when he is in uniform. If anything, he's more dangerous when he's not in uniform!"

"I agree," the manager whispered. "But it's what the guests request, so please comply..."

With that, Naruto sighed before unmasking himself and bracing for the thing that was to come next. Almost immediately, the man's faced paled at seeing his face and the next thing the three samurais knew was that he was on his knees bowing before the blonde.

"My apologies, Uzumaki-sama," he boomed in a loud voice, attracting everyone else's attention from outside the hotel and inside. "If I had know that-"

"Manager..." Naruto replied.

"If there is anything-"

"Manager," he tried again.

"I would do everything-" Whatever he was going to say next however, was cut off as faster than the eye could see, Hikaru shot a small stream of lightning at the managers face, effectively paralyzing his facial contraction and dragging the blonde boy with him to their room with the red haired teen leading the way. The green haired samurai stayed back however, glaring at the passerbys as she did so.

"Anyone else would like to bother Naruto-sama?" she threatened, as if daring them to do so. While the civilians doubt this slim teen would be capable of carrying out such a threat, they were unwilling to find out. No doubt, she was probably a kunoichi in their eyes and if that wasn't enough to deter anyone, then the fact that Naruto knew her was more than sufficient to warrant against doing so. Smirking at their silence, Midori turned her attention back to the manager, who by now, was panicking at the way his face was frozen in such an expression.

"Why do I always have to clean up her mess?" she sighed to herself before palmstriking the manager in the face. "How do you feel, Sir?"

"How do I feel?!" the manager nearly shouted. "YOU JUST-hey...my face is back! Thank you so much!"

The teen merely nodded one before making her way towards her room, eyes following her as she did so. If ever there was a time that the spectators were happy to not involve themselves in such a triflling affair, this was one of them. No doubt, taking up the teen on her request would have warranted a horrible outcome. Even the chuunins were dumbstruck at her attack, as well as the way she brushed it off. For a moment, they considered discussing with her about her actions but the thought that she was with the Uzumaki banished their doubts. If anything, he was with them and if he trust them, then why should they? Besides, it wouldn't do to make trouble when there wasn't any, as the rookies found out that very evening.

"So, I take it the mission went well?" a blue-haired man asked as she approached the room where her had entered only moments before.

"Ryo-kun," Midori called out with a sigh of relief. "You scared me."

"Hmm, my apologies but how is Ashura-sama?"

"He's agreed to listen to our pleas but," she hesitated. "If we can't convinced him otherwise, he won't go with us."

"I suspected as much," the man answered back. "Its always the best people that you can't ever seem to win over. Much like a certain green-haired girl, isn't it?"

"Oh please," the green haired teen replied. "We have more pressing matters than your less than flavourful antics at coursthip."

"Oh really?" Ryo teased back, a tiny gleam in his eye as he did so. "I seemed to recall someone whispering Ashura over and over again last night."

"I'll skin you alive if you ever bring that topic up again," Midori growled. "Besides, that was Hikaru!"

"Hmm, you have a point. Hikaru tends to be the one to whisper in her dreams but tell me...why are you so flustered by this? It's not as if it concerns you."

"Better that you don't find out," Midori replied slowly. "It would be in our best interest to get this over and done with. There's a storm brewing, I can feel it."

"Explain," the blue haired male demanded. This time there was no light teasing in his tone anymore, he was all business from now on.

"I don't like the way Hikaru keeps clinging to the blonde," she discussed. "But more than that, there's something Hanako told me that worries me even more. Its the fact that Hinata-sama keeps looking at him. You know as well as I do, what the extend of her powers are. But if she did indeed saw him in those dreams of hers then..."

"He has an important part to play in the history of the Moonlight Kingdom," Ryo concluded. "This could be more troublesome than I thought."

"Precisely. Milady has never been wrong in those vision of hers but she's very attached to Naruto-sama. It's as if...she knew that was going to happen."

"She a seer, Midori. Of course she would see this sort of things..."

"Then she would also know of her duties tied to our Kingdom and how she shouldn't be having such thoughts," the green haired girl muttered back, walking together with Ryo. "I don't know what it is about that mercenary of ours but I don't like the fact that the two of them are eyeeing him the way they do."

"What will be will be," Ryo exclaimed. "Certain things we can't change. They're the way they're supposed to be. Besides, milady know herself just how important her role is and I trust her not to do anything rash...like you should."

"You always have a way with words Ryo-san," she answered back. "I just hope you're right this time round."

"I'm always right," he smiled. "Even when I wished I'm not sometimes. Trust me Midori, milady would never do something that would go against her honour."

"Aye," his companion muttered back. "Although I wished she would..."

With that, they entered the room, where the other members of the Moonlight forces had gathered.

"Ah you've made it. Take a seat, Ryo, Midori," Mitsuo greeted as the pair entered the room. "Right now that we've all gathered here today, I think its time you tell us what really happened, Ashura-sama."

"Naruto," Satoru corrected. "I think its time we dropped the facade about that fake name of yours Naruto."

"How did you know?" the blonde asked back, to which the raven haired youth shrugged.

"Its not really that hard Naruto," he explained. "This is the hidden leaf village, of which your heroic acts have spread worlwide. If anything, the fact that you took down three of our finest samurai and still managed to clung on was more than enough to guaranteed your position as the Hero of the fourth war."

"Although, I'm surprised if this is as far as your abilities go," Hanako murmured, and earning looks of disapproval from everyone else. "What? I'm stating the obvious."

"Not really," a middle age man from among the group spoke out. Among the moonlight forces, Naruto realised that not only he the oldest, but there were also looks of awe and respect the moment he opened his mouth. Even the cynical Midori had her lips stretched thin as they waited to hear what the man had to say. "Not doubt, with that teleportation jutsu of yours, you could have stopped the battle in an instant. Yet you chose not to, which only leads to one possible explanation; you've been...holding back on his abilities so far as I'm concerned, weren't you?"

"How did you know?"

"Ryota-sama is a senser, Naru-chan," Hikaru answered back as she tightened her hold on his arm once more. "If anything, he told us that you've been holding back your more...subtle skills."

"By which I take it that you mean my bijuus chakra," Naruto answered back carefully. He was right, these samurais and shinobis alike were not the norm of the forces he had faced so far.

"That and the fact that I felt a bit of residual Natural energy makes me wonder about your true powers, Then again, I've never met a sage as young as yourself," the older man continued. "It seems you've put whatever achievements that your father has managed to achieved to shame."

"What do you know about my father?" Naruto demanded.

"All will be explain in due time Naruto but first there are somethings that you should know considering the fact that you are indeed accepting the mission we've proposed for the leaf," Satoru requested.

"I told you, it wasn't in my juri-"

"That has been taken care of Uzumaki-san," Mitsuo interrupted with a slight smile on his face. "My good friend the Fire Lord has agreed to authorise mission should you choose to accept it."

"You...know the Fire Lord?"

"There are many people who I indeed know but that is a matter for another day. Point is...do you accept this mission and the responsibilities that come along with it?"

At that, the teen hesitated. There was a reason why the aforementioned mission was classes as S-rank and maybe even higher considering the fact that people as powerful as the Moonlight samurais were requesting help from a hidden village. That as well as the fact that there have been fourty-seven dead leaf shinobi previously was more than enough to make anyone reconsider their options. On the other hand however, if he did reject the mission, he would have to face serious dire considerations for standing up against Shikamaru, his superior in rank. Technically, Naruto was still a genin despite his infamous status as the Hero of the fourth world war and the rookies had teased him greatly for that. Somehow one thing or another about that particular memory made him reconsider the offer. On one hand, it would be great to wipe the smirk on his friends' face on having to accomplish such a difficult mission but then the reality of situation hit him...no doubt the shinobis hired against the moonlight forces would be S-rank themselves no less; this wasn't going to be a simple mission. That, plus the fact that the rookies would no doubt shrug this off even if he did managed to fullfill it left a gaping hole in his heart. He didn't know why such a thought fazed him but he knew it would happen again seeing as his friends had always done so in the past. Once more, his original desire to escape the village reasserted himself again. Perhaps a few months away from the rookies would teach them just how much the blonde was really important to them but he reconsidered it. During those two years with Jiraiya, he had never received a single letter from the rookies as well as the fact that they had contempt looks on their faces when he next met them since they had all been promoted to chuunin but he hadn't. So with that in mind, he hardened his resolve; at the very least, he wouldn't need to face those so-called friends of his for a few months and if anything, the satifaction at seeing both the rookies and Tsunade horrorstruck at the Fire Lord's approval and dismissal of Tsunade's authority was too sweet to pass up. Besides, the way the samurai had treated him made him felt...warmth. It was a very rare feeling that only Gaara, Iruka and Bee had managed to instill.

"I accept," the anbu replied. "If anything, however, it's more to get away from the village then it is to see your kingdom. Regardless, I will see your journey through."

"Anyone against this?" Mitsuo asked and getting no arguments, he pressed on, "Excellent. On to you Satoru."

"Right. I don't usually do this but as an act of trust I'm going to be revealing certain things for your benefit," the blind man said. "Remember though, that whatever I tell you must stay within the confines to this room."

"You have my word."

"Very well. We could start at the beginning but that will take too long...instead I'll start off with myself and the rest of us who you'll be working with," Satoru answered. As he said so, he began uwrapping the bandages covering his eyes. "Ryota-sama is not the only one to have known your true heritage before hand. I do too Naruto seeing as I used to worked directly under you father..."

"Who..." The blonde started but couldn't find the resolve to finish the question. Whoever Satoru was, he must have been a former leaf shinobi if the words he was saying was correct. As the bandages fell to reveal the true facial features of the youth standing before him, he realised that he was indeed right; here was a living legacy of a clan that had long been forgotten if those large eyes of his and raven colour hair of his were anything to go by.

"Am I?" Satoru finished. "I known as Satoru among my comrades Naruto but my true name has not been used since my 'defection' from the village."

"It can't be..." Naruto murmured horrified at the sudden revelation. "You're supposed to be dead!"

"Hai," the raven haired man continued. "Among the more veteran members of the leaf, I was known as Uchiha Shisui of the body flicker. A remnant of the once proud Clan."

* * *

><p>Chapter end.<p>

What happens when Shisui reveals everything that had happened to him prior to the story?! Find out next time!


	16. Chapter 16

**DISCALIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO**

**Author's note: **There's quite a bit to say, considering the fact that some people have quoted that fifteen chapters into the story and the lead characters haven't even met one another yet. I apologise sincerly for this, guys-I was having quite a hard time trying to set up the proper atmoshpere and characters before I introduced the romance. Also, bear in mind that unlike my side projects-this one is a mix of everything: Tension, drama, adventure, action, romance maybe even tragedy if I decide it to be so. With regards to Hinata, she should be interacting with our dear Naruto in the span of five chapters of less. Again, I'm sorry that she hasn't been appearing in my story too much .

For dbttiger63: I agree that the rookies have been taking him for granted. Its not so much obvious in the manga but more in the anime especially when you look back in the Konoha history arc. Then again...maybe I was a bit too harsh on them. If we think about it, what they did as kids compare to what they did as adults are as different as night and day. I'm could say more on the new development between our hero and the rookies but that would be spoilers. As for Tsunade-I disagree with you when you say that she's selfish. In my case, it's more like "tough love" for Naruto from her perspective. Again she does have faith in her abilities if you consider that she actually requested his help when Pain invaded in the manga.

However, this contrasted with the Moonlight soldiers in my fic because I wanted the readers to feel Tsunade's guilt in hiding his heritage from him, then decides to give him a high rank mission just to mend their relationship. The main reason why I made Tsunade abort the mission was because although she knows Naruto is more than capable for such a mission, I made her wary of the moonlight forces, especially since they know a lot of things regarding Naruto that they don't feel like sharing. Also, if you paid particular attention, you could perhaps feel that the Moonlight forces are somewhat interested in winning her foster son over and after her betrayal, Tsunade will no doubt be very worried that Naruto might actually consider such an option. In all regards, she's not a bad person, more like a hard-pressed mom who's just tired and confused in trying how to understand her son's plight.

**[SPOILER ALERT-YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!]**

In a way...Naruto is just bluffing in his antics when he called Tsunade by her full title. Oh, no doubt he was very upset when he found out about her betrayal but after a month, that pretty much cooled down and if you paid attention very closely, he still refers to her as "Baa-chan" when his discussing about her with someone else, most notably the bijuus. This shows that he still cares for her greatly but like every healthy mother-son relationship...it's reached a point where, "I forgive you but I don't want to talk to you just yet because I want to spite you" sort of thing.

**[SPOILER OVER]**

As for why he was never promoted beyond genin; I have no idea why-maybe you need to fill a certain amount of mission quotas to be promoted? Although technically in this fic, he's an anbu and if you're very prone to details, you would know that in the series the anbu corps do not care for previous ranks, only talent and skill. Once you're in, you're one of the most deadly task force the village has to offer, regardless of previous rank, age or gender.

Also, I'm trying to make this fic as canon as possible so as to avoid discrepancies although Shisui was one of the few exceptions. You see, when you make something non-canon, it takes a very long time to develop that character as well as the way to present them and integrate them. This was why it took me 15 chapters to finally introduce Shisui when he's technically dead in the series O.O And hence why its very hard to introduce Hinata. I need to find the right time and place to make the two meet. So, please bear with me on that; in response I'll promise to make their meeting as enjoyable as possible BUT NO LEMONS!

Anyway, I think I've digress enough. SO, ON TO THE NEXT CHAPTER!

* * *

><p>Chpater 16: The bridge to the past<p>

_At an unknown location, at an unspecified time,_

"Not bad," A raven haired teen called out as he battled an unknwon figured from afar. This was suppose to be a simple reconaissence mission, Sasuke thought. It had been a few days since he had arrived in the Hidden Rock Village, only to find that while the majority of the village was intact, the entire Kage tower was complete decimated from top to bottom as a single lone figure stood before the fallen Tschikage, with his guards lying unconscious about it. If that wasn't a cause for concern however, then it was the chilling tone that the man used as he had addressed the Kage.

_Flashback_

_"I think this should be enough to resolve matters, don't you Onoki?" the cloaked man said, his face hidden underneath the shadow of a straw hat, much similar to Sasuke. _

_"Hah...ha...so this is the power of...the military head...of the Moonlight Kingdom..." the old man panted. "Such...raw power..."_

_"This is the last time I'm willing to take your incompetence in handling the affairs of my country," the man replied back coldly. "If you EVER, send another anbu in, child or not, your village will not live to see another day. Mark my words."_

_With that, the silthoutte began to turn slowly facing the direction from where Sasuke himself stood. "I know you're hiding there. I can feel your bloodlust. Come out."_

_Sasuke frowned as he processed the situation. On one hand, he could leave, since it didn't concerned him but on the other hand, a man who could crush the entire platoon of the Hokage's elite bodyguards as well as the Kage himself was not one to be underestimated. If anything, this man could shift the entire balance of the power struggle Naruto and he had managed to resolve after the conclusion of the fourth war. And unlike the blonde idiot that he had come to respect, the Uchiha was not one to take any chances. This man was a threat to the notion of peace between the five major countries, if you remove that lynchpin, a power vacuum would be formed and that would plunge the entire shinobi world into another age of warfare where darkness would once more reign supreme. Such a thought was enough to even cause the Uchiha to shudder in response. No doubt the major countries were a major obstacle in themselves in perserving and achieving true peace but like Naruto, Sasuke had finally learnt the true value of perserving humanity...as well as to avoid extreminism. It was a harsh fact to accept that achieving peace while enslaving humanity was a complete oxymoron in itself, but he had nonetheless accepted it. Also, while he had finally fought to protect human lives, he was willing to go against his code in killing the man before him. Ironically, while he had finally shed most of his more lethal and deadly thoughts regarding the shinobi world and system itself, Sasuke still held a bit of reverence to the moral conduct of "The end justifies the means" and he was willing to go to the extreme once more, no matter how much he loathe it, if it will benefit the majority._

_This was what led to the current outcome in the present. For three days and three nights, the battle between the two had been fought on the outskirts of the hidden rock village, with neither gaining the upper hand. The Uchiha himself was both physically and mentally taxed but was adamant in his quest to slay his unknown assailant. For the most part however, his mystery opponent seemed uninterested in the Uchiha. Like a bull annoyed by flies, the man had continously swatted aside his attacks with nothing more than a single flick of his wrist. Even worse however, was the fact that the abilities granted by his mangekyou sharingan didn't seem to affect him at all. Also, while Sasuke had pretty much lost most of his power obtained from the sage of the six path's himself, he held a small fragment of that power left in the form of the Rinnegan. Unfortunately, even that power was not enough to combat the threat before him. _

_Flashback ends._

"Elemental techniques won't work on me," the man called out quietly. "Although, it seems that Shisui will no longer have proper claim to the title of the last Uchiha."

"Shisui is dead!' the raven haired teen called out, before launching a huge rock at his opponent and teleporting himself away from his opponents line of sight via sushin. Just as the rock was about to hit, the man slice it cleanly through with nothing more that palm of his hand before making his way back to the Uchiha.

"Shows what you know," he called man slowly. "I don't want to fight you...Sasuke."

"?!"

"Yes, I know," the man continued on. "I know all your exploits in the war and everything that you've achieved up till now. I also know of your reformation following your betrayal when Naruto convinced you of your twisted version of peace."

"Then you know that I will do whatever it takes to kill you," he answered back, aiming a Chidori Sharp Spear at the man, who stopped it with a single finger.

"Such insolence," the man sighed back. "Hamura-sama was right when he told me that Indra's successor was never one for reasoning."

"I don't know how you know and neither do I care," the Uchiha growled. "What I do know is that you are a major threat to my goal of preserving peace. I cannot allow someone of your calibre to roam free in this world when you hold the power of upsetting the very stability that Naruto and I have fought so hard to protect!"

"Hmph. Do you speak for the sake of such or are you just upset that there is another who holds power far greater than yours?" The man taunted back. "Shame really that despite being my age, you are _nothing_ compared to me." With that, a huge dragon emerged from the ground where the raven-haired teen stood before being ensnared by it, preventing him from fighting back as he stared furiously into the hidden mans' eyes.

"There's a reason why the Moonlight Kingdom is to be feared Sasuke," he expressed slolwy. "You and Naruto are not the only ones to have inherited such thick blood. Be wary of that. I don't have any inclination to kill you since that would upset the very delicate balance of the reincarnation cycle...so I'll let you go."

"You'll regret that," the Uchiha snapped back as the dragon vanished. Immediately his Susanoo warrior manifested itself, as he prepared to strike the man before him. "Military head or not, I cannot let you go."

"Pity really," the man exclaimed as he beheld the sight before him. "Indra's successor was always destined to lose to Ashura's, not to their cousin." As Sasuke aimed a blow with his massive giant, five massive dragons consisting of the five basic elements of emerged from the ground before holding his Susanoo in place. A second later, the Susanoo writhed in pain as the dragons burrowed themselves into its armour, flesh and bone, forcing Sasuke to dispell his most defensive tactic. As the defeated Uchiha laid there, too exhausted to prolong their fight, the man appared in front of him before delivering a chakra enpowered punch to his face, knocking him unconscious.

"You are only the second ever person to push me this far," he told the unconscious teen as he recounted their battle, before adjusting his hat and continuing on his journey. "I just hope that there will not be a second time when we have to cross blades ever again."

* * *

><p><em>At the hotel with the Naruto and the moonlight forces,<em>

"Are you really Uchiha Shisui?" the blonde asked as the former leaf shinobi replaced his bandage. "What...happened to you?"

"Simple really Naruto," Shisui replied. "I trust from your familiarity with my name that you know of my history?"

"Hai...Itachi told me." At that, the two of them shared a silent moment in respect for their fallen comrade.

"I don't know what Itachi told you, nor do I care how Naruto," Shisui said, breaking the silence. "If however, he did so, then it must mean that he has entrusted everything to you in what he could not achieve."

"Hai...so, what happened?"

This time Shisui sighed as he collected his thoughts on how best to breach the topic. "When I planned my death near a decade ago, I didn't planned on one thing; being rescued by Ryota over there."

"You see Naruto," the older man continued from Shisui's confession. "Your father and I had been...adversaries for a long time. Despite the reasons, we only ever did what we thought was best for our respective countries. Before the truce of the five nations and the Moonlight Kingdom was broken, we reached a stalemate and from then on, surprisingly, we became fast allies when neither of us could best the other. As is the such of things, a formidable opponent makes the best ally in times of crisis and your father was wise to grasped such a concept by strengthening our international ties."

"That still doesn't explain why you managed to save Shisui in such an unexpected way," the blonde protested.

"True," Ryota mused. "There is one thing you should know however. Minato was very aware of the fact that the Uchiha would rebel. Even before the ninetails attack on the village, tension between the clan and the villagers were already reaching an all time high., A fact that I regret to inform you was due to the rash and somewhat impatient action of your Niidaime Hokage."

"Hai," Shisui expressed forlornly. "Niidaime-sama had the right idea...just not the right results. Regardless, Minato-sensei knew that something like this was going to happen eventually and in the event of his death where he could not intervene, he knew that sandaime-sama would request me to observe the Uchiha sould they plan a coup de'tat."

"You called my father sensei, Shisui...what is your relation with him?" Naruto demanded, intrigued by the sudden revelation.

This time, the Uchiha smiled before he answered. "Ever wonder why I was called Shisui of the body flicker? Your father personally drilled me in the art of speed as well as reflex actions. He was even going to take me as an apprentice at one point but I was only eight at that time, despite being a genin already. He would have taught me his signature stance but you knew what befell him before then..."

"Anyway," Ryota hurriedly pressed on. "Minato-san had the foresight to see that Shisui would have been under the scrutiny of one of the more dubious elders once his death passed by, despite the sandaime's protection."

"Especially when your father's death was one of the many factors that led to my infamous ability that even my clan members treasured so highly," Shisui muttered.

"Danzo..." the blonde anbu called out.

"Correct," Shisui continued. "Even before I awakened my Mangekyou Sharingan, that blasted old fool knew where my true loyalties lie and had already planned to recruit me in following your father's death. All that changed however, when I refused and when he learned of the power of my Kotoamusukami, he lusted for that very same power, especially when he couldn't have the owner follow his wishes."

"Hence, your father requested that I personally watch over Shisui since he was a key component in preventing civil war from occuring in the leaf should his death prove ineveitable," Ryota sgihed. "By the time of Shisui's supposed suicide however, the truce between our two countries had been broken. Regardless of such an act however, I chose to go against my country's policy of non-inetervention in the five nations in order to keep a close watch on Shisui."

"So the moment after my father died...you've been watching Shisui this whole time?"

"Hai, even before the truce was broken I had been keeping an eye on him. It was only about six years after his supposed death that the truce between our countries was finally terminated. A moment in history that I'm sure you realised-"

"-coincided with the Uchiha clan massacred," the blonde finshed awed. It seemed unbelievable that events could have happened so precisely one after the other. Even more unbelivable was the fact that Ryota, who had no ties to the village at all, was willing to go to such extreme measures to fullfill the wish of his one time enemy.

"After that, you probably know what happened to me," Shisui told him. "But because Ryota caught sight of my sudden suicidal action, he jumped right in to save me and follwing that, I've been under his tutelage and a Moonlight Shinobi from then on."

"One thing doesn't make sense," Naruto pressed however. "Where were you when Shisui had his right eye ripped out by Danzo?"

"Ah, I knew this was coming," Ryota sighed. "I regret to inform you that I was away on other official business when that had happened. Even we shinobis needed our rest and I had never suspected Danzo of such a terrible deed considering Shisui's capabilities. Still, I should have expected the snake had something up his sleeve and it was a mistake I cannot forgive myself for."

"Don't be Ryota-sama," Shisui cut in quickly. "You saved my life, for that I'm grateful."

"I think...we're pretty much done with your history Shisui-san," Naruto expressed. "Thank you for sharing. There is another things that been on my mind and I have a very good hunch that it has to do with the mission itself." The atmosphere in the room tensed once more as everyone knew what he was going to ask next.

"What was it that caused the truce between the five nations and the Moonlight Kingdom to end?" he asked them. This time, however, it was another raven haired ninja that answered him.

"You are righ in asking that Uzumaki-sama," she said suddenly. "The truce was broken because of one simple thing; jealousy. Like so many of the other nations, our kingdom also offered shinobi services as well as the samurai system for poetential clients. We were the greatest power within the entire world and whenever the minor nations would suffer injustice from the major nations, they would take it to us, which we would eventually...deal with."

"These discrepancies with the minor nations...what were they?"

"A wise question...but you're not going to like this seeing as you're from one of the major nations yourself," thegirl pressed on. "As major players in world politics, the major nations would not hesitate to bully the smaller nations when it came to trade or missions that could prove invaluable in the countries reputation and development. As such, the minor nations had no one to talk to seeing as each of the five would periodically backed one another up. The moonlight kingdom however, discarded such a unfair act and because we not only held the power to destroy the five nations in one go, not to mention the determination to do so, they were always hesistant to bully the smaller nation less they find themselves facing a bigger threat as response."

"What Kiyoko-san said is correct," Ryo cut in. "However, such an act left a lasting bitterness in the five nations at not being able to further their own agendas. So, when tension finally reach a climax...hostilities were inevitable. And seeing as they had little power on their own against the kingdom, the five nations initiated a joint-coalition war with the us. It was then that despite eventually winning the war, we suffered a tremendous blow and from then on, the truce was finally broken."

"And that is where we come full circle to the mission at hand I suppose," Mistuo chipped in. "You see, there was a major battle that we lost prior to winning the war and in his fury and haste, King Sho did the unthinkable. He banished the one responsible for such a devasting defeat from ever stepping foot into our country again and because the person being banished held a very important bond with his heir, Prince Akihiko vehemently cut off all ties with his father, even refusing to take up his rightful place as heir to the throne until his father rights the wrongs that he did."

"Who did he banished? It wasn't you was it?" the blonde asked more intigued than ever.

"Not quite...you see, being a prince was never an easy job and in the prince's eyes, he hated the position since everyone always expected the most out of him. There was however a single person in his dark life that provided him with support whenever he felt that he could no longer go on," Mitsuo explained. "That very person was his twin sister, and severing the bonds that twins naturally have was the worst mistake that King Sho could have done."

"He banished...HIS OWN DAUGHTER?!" the blonde snapped furiously. "What was he thinking?!"

"Hold you tongue," Midori snapped back. "He is still king to our nation and your employer in this mission at hand."

"From the way I see it, the king deserves every right to face the retribution that his son is dealing him with," Naruto argued back. "Besides, I was informed that the prince was an only child."

"Selective disinformation," Hanako explained. "When we sealed off our connections to the outside world, we expected people to try and steal valuable information regarding our society. So instead, we fed them lies and half-truths so as to sow discord among our enemies ranks. Of course certain things do get out from time to time but due to the wide array of spies throughout the elemental nations, nobody would be a hundred percent certain of which intel was correct and which one was wrong."

"And where pray tell is this princess of the Moonlight Kingdom?" the blonde demanded.

"H-here," a soft voice called out from the hodded figure next to Mitsuo-sama. As the blonde braced himself for any form of trcikery when the owner unveiled her hood, his eyes widened at the sight before him. It was little wonder then that everyone in the room held the bluenette before him with such high fragility, she had an almost childlike innocence about her as well as a face full of pain and misery. No doubt, the bluenette before him had gone through turmulous trials throughout her time. Her eyes held a look of despair, despite the gentle smile that she was flashing him. "I've a-always w-wanted t-to meet you N-naruto-kun..."

* * *

><p>Chapter end<p>

What happens next time with Hinata and Naruto?! Find out next time!


	17. Chapter 17

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO**

**Author's note: **Hi again guys and sorry for the late update. I've been taking time off from writing to go over what you guys have suggested and other than a few modest replies, I'm going to keep this part of the Author's note short.

Anyway, on to the story!

* * *

><p>Chapter 17: My lady<p>

_At the hotel with Naruto and the Moonlight forces that very evening,_

"Have we met?" Naruto asked the pale face in front of him. He didn't know how to describe the situation but somehow, one way or another, he felt...drawn to the princess sitting before him. It was as if fate had decided that they would meet eventually, just not when they expected it; this was that time. Already, he could feel as if she knew this herself, judging from the wary and wise look she had in her eyes. For a moment, the silence stretched as the young pair maintained eye contact, until eventually, tired and impatient, the red haired samurai nudged an elbow at the still gawking Naruto.

"It's not nice to stare at the _princess_, Naruto-san," Hanako muttered under her breath. Then in a quiet voice that only the two of them could hear, she whispered, "She's cute, ja? But don't go getting any ideas..."

"Wouldn't think of it," he muttered back calmly. This was after all, just a business proposition and once the mission was done, they wouldn't be seeing each other anymore. Yet for all that...he couldn't help but feel pity for the young lady in front of him. She must have shouldered a tremendous burden throughout her entire live if the miserable look strawn across her face was anything to go by. That plus the fact that she was banished by her very own father no less, was more than enough to put anyone into a spiralling depression of hopelessness and despair but what the blonde knew, and he was extremely thankful that he wasn't of royal blood, was that nobles such as the princess before him could not bear to show such outward emotions. There was a reason why the leaders of the country were always hiding their pain and sufferings underneath a blank mask, for if the people knew how much their higher-ups were despairing, then fear would rule them...and if fear is allowed to spread throughout the common folk, the nation would be in ruins.

It was this complex thought that cause the blonde to symphatise with the young bluenette before him. A sentiment that he shared, seeing as he, himself knew he would have to shouldered one day himself when he took up the mantle of Hokage.

"N-no, we h-haven't Naruto-kun..." the bluenette replied softly, dragging his attention back to the discussion. Shaking his head slowly, Naruto reprimanded himself for suddenly zonning out like that. It would never do if his clients deem him irresponsible for his lack of attention. The again, if they had gone through all this trouble to bring him here...something wasn't right.

_Inside Naruto's subconscious,_

**"It's begun," Kurama stated gravely, eyeing the chakra shroud surrounding their young host. Already the bijuus could sense the change in the blonde's line of thought, complex thinking pattern and worse of all, his personality. Before long, it would be his physical body that would be perverted by the inherited chakra and after that...even thr bijuus hesitate to guess.**

**"Are you sure there is nothing we can do?" Saiken asked worried. "You said, we could restrict his growth potential by siphoning off some of that chakra."**

**"No...Kurama is right," Gyuki advised. "We did indeed consider it but we do not know the extent to which Ashura's chakra has bonded with Naruto."**

**"No telling what could happen now that it's anchored itself into his very life force," Matatabi observed. "If we were to indeed force it out...At the very least, it would cripple him and at the worse..." There was no need for the Two-tails to finish that last sentence. It was just too painful to imagine otherwise. It had been a long time since someone had managed to stir the bijuus stone-cold hearts but now that their hearts had been stirred, they couldn't bear to do anything to the person before them, even if it meant having to hurt him for his own benefit. **

**"We have to do something!" Goku protested. "I won't have the past experience and trauma that the previous successors had alter my host's perception of the world!"**

**"Are you blind?!" Shukaku growled back. "If we did indeed do something, the kid may very well lose his life, you wretched ape!"**

**"What did you say you blasted racoon?!" Goku demanded.**

**"I said-" the Ichibi started only to be cut off by a large roar.**

**"ENOUGH! BOTH OF YOU! Fighting like a pair of hungry wolves over a scrap of meat! What would grandpa Rikudou say?!" Kurama snarled. Both beasts hung their heads in shame at that. They knew exactly what Hagoromo would say. "Now, Its not as if we don't symphatise with your claim Goku but...it pains me to say this, the racoon is right. I will not have my host die for something that is out of his control."**

**"It wouldn't be fair for the kid," Isobu muttered quietly. **

**"But we can't just do nothing!" Choumei protested. "There's no telling how it'll affect his performance on the mission. He could very well lose his life if he doesn't learn to control this sudden influx of power."**

**"Not quite Choumei," Kurama answered. "Even as we speak, I'm doing my best to suppress the sudden surge of power but like you say, this will only delay the inevitable. Ashura's chakra is more persisted than I thought! Its as if _it wants to bind itself_ no matter what."**

**"So there's only one thing we can do..." Kokuo voiced out. "We wait."**

**"Hai," Kurama started once more. "As much as it pains me, returning to our roots will be a very dangerous thing for young Naruto. If anything, those subconscious memories, experience and wisdom will be invaluble for his survival. **

_Back to the discussion,_

"I think...it's time you start telling me why you actually brought me here," the blonde began as everyone turned to stare at him. Before anyone could protest however, he pressed on quickly, "I'm not talking to any of you...I'm talking to you, princess. If anything, you hold the most authority in this room and from the way I see it, you must have been the one to have request a meeting with me."

Sharp, Ryo thought. Looks like Shisui was right when he told me that the son of Konoha's Kiiroi no senko was not one to be underestimated. Still, the blue haired samurai wasn't going to let this one go. Naruto might have proven himself a strong and capable ninja, but that didn't give him the authority to be demanding things from the bluenette in return. True, she had requested his presence despite him having no obligation to fullfill such a request but she was still a princess for that matter. If anything, the lack of courtesy and his blunt way of asking things straight to the point was not welcome by Ryo, a sentiment shared, unsurprisingly, by the rest of the Moonlight forces. Even the normally jovial Mitsuo had one of his eyebrows raised, no doubt, they held the bluennete in very high regard and what the blonde just did was crossing the line.

Hinata herself knew this but quickly silence her retainers with a quick hand gesture. Without realising it, the rest of people in the room, apart from her, Naruto and Mistuo had subconsiously begun to get and up and all too late, they realised that they were all reaching for their weapons. Almost immediately, they sat back down once more, although angry frowns still strewn across their faces. The tension in the atmosphere subsided as quickly as it had begun and Naruto sighed to himself quietly in his head. He had definitely lost points with them but there was no going about it; he needed intel and he needed it urgently. Somewhere, deep inside him, a nagging feeling persisted that what he was doing was indeed the right thing. He didn't know how, he didn't know why and he didn't know what that feeling was but his instincts were telling him to trust that feeling and so he was.

"Father," the bluenette addressed as she re-veiled her face. "I-I'm g-going to discuss th-things with out g-guest. M-make sure w-we aren't followed."

"My lady, I must protest!" Hanako argued, only to be silenced by a sharp glare from the elder Mitsuo. Grundgingly, she sat back down but not before voicing out a line of rebellion, "If you DO ANYTHING to the princess, I will-"

"That's enough Hanako," Mistuo interuptted. "You know as well as we do that this is something Hinata-sama must do. Are you willing to dishonour her duty?"

At that the red-haired teen kept silent but maintained the glare on the blonde anbu. If looks could kill, Naruto thought. This would definitely be one of those situations. Again that same feeling of unease passed through him as he took a glance once more at the angry face. For some reason, Naruto felt that he had seen that before, as if that anger was very pervalent in a lot of individuals. The dumb thing was that he kept associating it with, however, was with red haired people, mostly girls from some prestigious groups of some sort with deep blood ties, almost akin to a clan.

"W-walk...with m-me?" the veiled figure asked as she walked towards him.

"Not without one of your other guards...princess," the anbu replied. While he was indeed sure that the princess had absolute faith in him, he was also certain that her guards did not.

"There's no need for that," Ryota replied. "We may trust you completely Naruto-san but we do trust Hinata-sama. And if Hinata-sama trusts you...then so be it."

"My thanks?" Even the way he put it was doubtful but there was little time to think as the veiled figure had already begun making her way towards the door. Before long, the blonde followed fater her, leaving the rest of the Moonlight people to themselves.

"Are you sure we can trust him?" Hanako asked aloud.

"We wouldn't have gone through all that trouble otherwise Hana-chan," Hikaru objected. "Put some faith in Naru-chan...or if you can't, then re-affirm your faith in the princess."

"I suppose." On the far side of the room however, Shisui was discussing some very important matters with the older Ryota.

"So...is it confirmed?" Shisui asked under his breath, barely able to keep his excitement any longer. "Did their chakras match?"

"You were right Shisui," Ryota answered back just as silently. "Two birds of the same feather indeed, despite their difference in personality and hair colour. Hmm, I'm curious about the latter, though. Very curious indeed..."

_With Naruto and Hinata,_

"So what is it that you wanted to talk about princess?" Naruto asked as they exited the hotel, his hands behind his head as he matched his tride next to hers. The young girl sighed before she answered back.

"J-just...Hinata w-would be enough, N-naruto-kun,"

"Ok then, Hinata-san," he answered back casually. "What is it that you wanted to talk about?"

"G-gomen," she mummbled back. Then taking a deeper breath, she braced herself for what she was going to say, "Naruto-kun, y-you...asked if w-we've met...h-hai?"

"..."

"W-we...have indeed, o-or rather I have," she pressed on. "I'm w-what most people w-would c-call a seer."

"So you can see things?" he answered back carefully. Most people would have scoffed at such a idea but not the blonde. He had seen far too many things as a shinobi, both the real and the surreal. If anything, he had even met a seer previously before and that was the priestest of demon country, Shion. "Things that are going to happen to you? Things that would happen in the future?"

"Ano...N-no...things th-that _MIGHT_ happen," the bluenette corrected. "Th-the future isn't s-so much as s-set in st-stone as y-you think it is. Ev-every generation o-of the royal family h-has at least o-one person who has su-such an ability. It w-was because of th-this that we've managed t-to survive this l-long."

"I see...but why do you need me on this mission then?" This time however, the bluenette hesitated to answer back. "Tell me princess, I have a right to know."

"H-hai," she sighed back. "Th-there are two reasons why. F-first is that I foresaw a death i-in my group sh-should you chose not to f-follow us back."

"Whose death is that?" he asked back neutrally.

"M-mine." That stopped the blonde in his tracks. As his brain took a second to process this particular piece of information, anger suddenly flowed through his entire being as realised the absurdity of the situation before him. This pure and innocent girl was risking her life just so that blasted father of hers could secure her own brother to the throne?! That was just far too selfish of him.

"N-naruto-kun?" Hinata asked when she realised the blonde wasn't following her.

"Why are trying so hard for someone who does not even care for you?" he demanded.

"Th-the very same r-reason why y-you n-never give up as well," she answered back. "My f-father made a m-mistake. Simple a-as that. I-I won't hold i-it against him. If that d-doesn't s-satisfy y-you, then kn-know that I-I'm doing this f-for my brother and m-my kingdom. Th-the people need unity, not discord."

"What could I do that could change such an outcome?"

"F-for the very f-fact that you-re y-you, Naruto. As a s-seer, I'm p-privvy to all th-the details of th-those that I'm destined t-to meet." she explained. "I've dreamnt a-about you...o-of your exploits...o-of your p-past and...even your f-future."

"Somethings are better left unknown, Hinata-san," he said with a touch of bitterness. "Why would you conjure up such images?"

"I-I h-have no c-control over the things I dreamnt off. If anything though, t-the shadow o-of death still l-looms over m-me, regardless of y-your decision."

"But you believe..." he hesitated. "That I have the power to change that? Me...just one guy?"

"One g-guy is all th-that's needed to ch-change the world, N-naruto-kun," she answered gently. "Y-you've achieved th-this multiple times al-already. If an-anything, you are th-the ony p-person I can t-trust to ch-change my destiny."

"To be able to see the past and future. Must be a hard burden to shoulder such a blessing."

"A curse," she corrected. "Especially wh-when you know of th-things that are to h-happen but are p-powerless to st-stop them."

A curse indeed, he thought warily. "And the second reason?"

"You should have f-figure it out b-by now," she whispered back quietly. They were currently just within the outskirts of the village and despite the usual hustle and bustle of the on-going night life of Konoha, it felt incredibly quiet to Naruto. Just like her retainers, the bluenette had proven herself to be so much more than the image she had projected herself to be. What stunned him though, was the fact that she knew of his insight on being able to see this far. Once more, he re-considered the possibility that the Moonlight forces re more than what they appeared to be.

For all I know, she might not even be the real princess, he thought to himself. Then he called out, "Hai, I've figured it out. It doesn't make sense seeing as this is a highly classified mission. From what your group have told me, the Moonlight Kingdom is not one to just give out information freely. Which means only one thing...there's a traitor in your nation that doesn't want you back and your afraid that without outside help...you won't stand a ghost of a chance."

"Hai," the bluenette agreed. "I trust th-their skills a-and abilities but th-the moment we st-step into my n-nation's soil will be a d-different thing al-altogether. Whoever p-planned this m-must have been v-very cautious seeing as he t-took time to w-wait for our d-departure."

"And if this person is as dangerous as you describe him to be, no doubt he would have countermeasures against your very own elite troupe, no matter how trained they are. A fact that he'll be especially well off seeing as he's from the same nation as yourself."

"Hai...W-we need a t-trump card. Something th-that he has n-no idea on."

"That would be me I suppose," he grinned. He liked the bluenette, that much was certain. It wasn't her nobility or her authority that earned his respect however, but rather her blunt and honest way of informing him. Few people could hope to hold themselves up in Naruto's book but the princess had definitely secured a place there. Too many times had he faced nobles and daimyo alike who cared little for the people they were. Of course they were good ones as well but Hinata took the meaning to a whole new level; here she was, a princess in a totally different land with no support from her mother nation and yet she was still willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of her people. This was what a nation needed, Naruto though to himself. Someone who not only get things done but who also placed the people's needs higher than herself. "Count me in."

"You w-will?" she whispered back, slightly stunned at his answer. Once more the masked Naruto grinned.

"Suprised you didn't SEE that coming," he teased lightly. The veiled figure shook her head at his jib. Not one up till now had ever treated her like a person before and she rather liked this sense of comfort the blonde projected. Of course she knew that her retainers would fight down to nail and teeth when the occasion demanded it but despite their strong bond, the Moonlight forces would never lower the authoritative figure of the princess down to their social level. It just didn't happen in certain societies, theirs was one such example and so was the Land of Fire. However, be that as it may, there were certain individuals who would never follow that social ladder between classes and the blonde Uzumaki was one of them. For Naruto, he himself had come face to face with many daimyos and nobles and it there was one thing he'd learnt, people like the princess before him now loathe the attention and respect that their subordinates place on them. It made them feel as if there were no more than an item placed on a pedestal. So with that in mind, he broke the mold, without regards for what her retainers would do to him later on.

"I-I can't g-guarantee y-your safety th-though," she warned him, to which the blonde shrugged.

"I'm a shinobi princess, we live in the edge of life and death everyday," he answered back. "Tell me one thing though, did you see my death?"

This time, she flinched. I thought so, the blonde thought to himself. A normal person would have been scared out of their wits at such a revelation but once more Naruto was past this point. As she herself had explained, the futre wasn't set in stone and Shion herself had once predicted his death a few years back but here he was, still very much alive and breathing. If anything though, he wanted to see the princess's reaction. Sometimes, a single sentence or even a single word could give you intimate details to a person's true nature. Before he formally accepted the mission however, he wanted to confirm this feeling of trust that he felt from the bluenette. Everything now hinges on her; should he find her answer unacceptable, then it would appear that he won't be going on that planned trip afterall.

His suspicions were groundless though, seeing as the veiled figure merely sighed back softly in exasperation before turning to face him. This time however, she peeled her veil off her head, giving him a proper look at her entire face as she linked eyes with him

"Hai. I h-have indeed foreseen you d-death, Naruto-kun," she answered slowly. "I-if...you feel th-that it is t-too much, then I-I understand."

"I've already told you Hinata-san," Naruto answered back jovially. Then getting down onto one knee and in a much more authoratative voice, he called out, "We shinobi's live on the edge everyday, not knowing what might happen. I'm not so much afraid of death as it is of what could happen to the ones I leave behind. Youranswer has touched me, Princess. I will escort you back to your nation, on my honour as the Hero of the Fourth shinobi world war."

"You really are an e-enigma," Hinata muttered before redonning her veil. Walking towards him, he placed her two hands on his shoulder before proceeding in just as much force as he had before her, "Rise, Naruto-san. I leave my life in your hands now. Please, for the sake of my people, see my journey through."

"Now that that's out of the way, let's head back to the hotel, Hinata-san," the blonde replied before getting up. "You need to lighten up princess. You too stiff with all that formal nonsense and what-not. If you press on at this pace, you'll die before you hit thirty."

"B-but..." she protested, suddenly tongue-tied at his sudden shift in character.

"This is what I'm talking about," he joked. His amusement however, died when the flustered girl, either insulted or amused at his sudden tactics, suddenly got up and left, leaving him to chase after her. "I'm sorry, princess! I didn't mean it."

"I kn-knew you say that," she called back without facing him. "A-afterall, I foresaw it."

This time, it was the blonde who was flustered by her sudden change in character. Now she was making jokes?! Shaking his head for what was going to lie ahead of him the next day, he followed her trail back. As they neared their destination, however, he suddenly felt a spike in chakra levels before noticing five dark silthoutte's surrounding the both of them. Faster than the eye could see, the blonde reached out for the veiled figure in front of him just as a shower of senbons hit the ground where she stood previously before.

"N-naruto-kun?" she squeaked before noticing the sight before her. As she glanced up at the blonde however, she also noticed that he was no longer masking his face any longer and that there was a very angry frown plastered across it.

"Come out and face me!" he challenged. His anger turned to worry when the lead figure stepped into the light, to reveal a masked jounin with spiky grey-coloured hair.

"Naruto," the jounin called out with his arms raised. "Let's talk...I don't want to fight you."

"Kaka-sensei," the blonde called back. A dreading feeling in his chest now as he turned to face his long time teacher.

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><p>Chapter end!<p>

I'm going to give you guys a chance to play how the next event will turn out. Next chapter should be up in 3-4 days but before then-do you want a match between Naruto and Kakashi or do you want Kakashi to help his student? PM or review your thoughts on the outcome!

Find out what happens next time! Remember you decide what happens next!


	18. Chapter 18

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO.**

**Author's note: **Well, the time limits is up and as promised-I've decided to go with the majority votes. So, hopefully everyone gets along with everyone.

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><p>Chapter 18: To mend a broken bond<p>

_At Konoha's centre, with Naruto and Hinata,_

"There's nothing to talk about sensei," the blonde answered carefully, as he faced the group of anbus and his teacher. Granted, the day had just turn out way worse than he could have expected. Honestly speaking, Naruto had indeed came up with every possible situation that his foster mother might have had up her sleeve should she actually find out his motive in taking said mission. However, Kakashi being involved with the Godaime? That wasn't one of them, unfortunately. Even now he didn't want to fight with his teacher and hoped that there was indeed a way out but for the life of him...that didn't seem possible at all.

"Naruto...I mean it," the masked jounin answered before removing his ninja gear and tossing it to the blonde before replacing his hands up in the air. "Look, we both know that you're much more powerful than me in your current state. With such odds...do you think I'll even come face to face with you straight out like this?"

"You've got a point sensei," his student answered back. "But tell me one thing, what about the clones behind your anbu friends?"

At that, Kakashi sighed. Quick as a flash, he snapped two fingers together and before the four anbus knew what hit them, they were effectively knock unconscious before their bodies hit the ground. Both teens' eyes widened at the grey haired jounin's actions but this wasn't a time to be surprised at such an antic nor was it time to be awed at his prodigious skill. In a speed that could rival Kakashi's, Naruto took up a defensive stance with the bluenette behind him as he got ready for anything his sensei would throw at him.

"W-wait!" a soft voice called out from behind and before he knew it, the bluenette had ran out from right under his arms before placing herself between the two of them.

"Princess, move!" he hissed, before taking a step towards her. The next thing that happened however, froze him striaght on the spot as Kakashi immediately had the bluenette in a headlock grip with a kunai next to her throat. As both teens turned to stare horrifed at the older man, he sighed once more before releasing his hold on her and pushing her back towards the blonde. As she stumbled towards him, Naruto reached out and grabbed her in a tight embrace, "Are you alrgiht?"

"H-hai..." she whispered, her face a pale white at the ordeal she had just faced.

"Like I said Naruto," Kakashi began once more. "I'm not here to fight."

"You expect me to believe you after what you just put did?!" he nearly shouted, tightening his hold on the girl in his arms. Taking a moment to calm his nerves, Naruto released his hold on the princess before pushing her towards his back as he re-took his previous stance.

"Naruto...if I had been serious, I would have threatened you otherwise," Kakashi answered back slowly. Another snap of his fingers and the Kakashi clones were effectively dismissed. "Look, I was an anbu before you. A proper one at that as well. I know all the different torturing techniques to bend someone to my will but yet...I chose not to do so. I could have force you to listen to my demands if I had wanted to but I didn't. Instead I let her go because we're comrades of the same village. If you don't believe me, then why did I even take the effort to disable the black op unit that Godaime-sama sent?"

"I-I think h-he's telling th-the truth, Naruto-kun," Hinata answered from behind him. The blonde glared at her for that but Hinata held his gaze in hers as she reached out an arm and placed it on his shoulder. "D-don't do th-this, Naruto-kun."

"Fine," he sighed, his shoulders slumping. "We'll talk Kakashi...but not here. I trust you'll be able to find your way back, Hinata-san?"

For a fleeting moment, she looked as if she was about to argue back, that is until the grey-haired jounin eye-smiled at her. It wasn't a very comforting body language however, as that single action signaled potential threats to her, regardless of who she was if she was going to get between Kakashi and his student. And while Hinata trusted Naruto enough on his abilities to take down his former teacher, she also knew that he would not be able to fight at his full potential, given the fact that he had to limit himself so as to not hurt her as well as the village. With that in mind, she merely nodded before excusing herself. That was a very tense moment as the bluenette slowly walked past Kakashi, Naruto's entire body bursting with energy as he prepared for any form of foul play from his sensei. Luckily for the two of them, nothing happened and the moment she was well out of their sight of range, Kakashi eye-smiled at Naruto. The blonde however, didn't return the gesture.

"You better not be hiding any anbus..." he threatened, which wiped the smirk on the older man's face.

"Of course not," Kakashi answered back neutrally. When Naruto didn't show any sign of calming down, he sighed once more. "Look, Naruto. I'll let you tie my hands if you really still don't trust me at this moment. However, if you actually do resort to such an action, then I'm deeply disappointed in you. Haven't I taught you to always treasure the bonds of your comrades?"

"Some comrades they've turned out to be," he snapped back but this neither the time nor the place for his outburst. That particular dialogue would have to wait. Right now, there were more important things to discuss, namely why Kakashi was here. "Alright sensei, I go along with your plans...for now. And you can keep your hands untied."

"Thank you very much," he eye-smiled once more, before gesturing to the blonde to follow him. "I know the perfect place to sort this out."

Deep down however, the jounin wasn't as happy as he presented himself to be. As he lead Naruto to their place of discussion, Kakashi couldn't help but wonder what it is that could have dratically change his student's nature as such. A sentiment shared by the bijuus but one to which they all knew the answer to and yet were not yet willing to share with anyone else, least of all the shinobis of Konoha. What's happened to Naruto? Kakashi thought. He seems to be much colder than usual. Something is not right...

_Few minutes later, at the anbu training grounds,_

"I think we can talk here, Naruto," Kakashi said as they made their way into the highly classified training area. "This-"

"-is the place where only elite jounins and anbu black ops are allowed," the blonde finished. "Yeah, I know. Cut to the chase."

If Kakashi was shocked that Naruto knew this, he didn't showed it. There was, however, a slight furrow on his eyebrows as he re-considered this particular dialogue. If Naruto did indeed know about this place, then that would have meant that he was now an official anbu but that seemed strange. Very strage indeed. As an adviser to the anbu black ops, Kakashi would have been privy to such information and yet he had heard no such thing. It seemed that the more Kakashi found out about what his blonde student had been up to the past month, the more he realised how much in the dark his student had changed, both in terms of character and abilities. Kakashi also knew that he was under strict orders to bring Naruto back but his instincts were telling him otherwise; there was more to this that the Hokage had made it out to be...and it wasn't just about him going berserk about having a single mission turned down. With that in mind, he strengthen his resolve to find out what the root of the entire problem regarding his student was.

"Very well," the jounin replied. "Before I get started though, what in the world happened to you during the past month, Naruto?"

"Nathing of particular interest. Just some training," he answered back vaguely. His stone cold face and his chiselled body were anything but such from what Kakashi could tell. Then again, he knew how stubborn his ex-student could be when it came to revealing informations about his day-to-day ordeals and hence why he chose not to pursue the matter anymore. Besides, there was another more pressing matter to discuss with the blonde and if anything, Kakashi knew, it was better to get that out in the open before his patience ran dry.

"I just come right out and say it then," Kakashi started. Granted, the jounin was avery shrewd man and not one to dragged things out. Yet despite this, something seemed a bit...off about his ex-student. A fact that he didn't know was either good or bad. On the good side, this Naruto knew how to handle things properly, through systematic means and he seems to have inherited his father's calm demeanor when dealing in a crisis. On the other hand, this Naruto was very cold, almost as cold as that failure of his other student. For all his experience and wisdom, the jounin dreaded one thing; what could have caused Naruto to lose his cherry disposition? However, if his instincts were right, he didn't seemed to have lost it yet, rather misplaced it if the confrontation with the bluenette just a minute ago was anything to go by. "Why did you attack your friends?"

"It wasn't my intention sensei," the blonde anbu muttered back. Regardless of the fact that Kakashi never stood up for him all this time, Naruto still looked up highly to Kakashi. Perhaps because of that particular fact, Naruto was unwilling to cross blades with his former teacher. Certain spectators might have observed the rivalry between Naruto and Sasuke, that was a common thing. Of course, what they thought about how the two's sensei regarded the situation was similar to what they saw; they thought that just because Kakashi paid more attention towards Sasuke, he was being bias and showing favouritism but the blonde knew better. Perhaps there was a time when he cursed his sensei's lack of attention towards him as well as the responsibilties that came along with being a jounin but that was a long time ago. True, Kakashi had indeed focused more his time on his raven-haired student as opposed to Naruto and had even thought the Uchiha his signature jutsu but if you thought about the situation, things weren't as simple as they seemed to be.

The fact was that Kakashi did so to better steer Sasuke away from the path of vengeance, using his Chidori as a _tool to protect not kill_. Up until his defection from the village, two years prior, the grey haired jounin had indeed heard whisperings as well as taunts behind his back about how he was treating his group of genins but as explained, Kakashi was a very shrewd man and he neither cared nor wonder about sich things. If people wanted to petty, then so be it. They were only fools who thought with their eyes and hence why they were easy to fool. If one had analysed the situation carefully, the only reason why he had spent more time on Sasuke was because Sasuke _needed_ guidance whereas Naruto didn't. Sasuke was walking down a dangerous road, a road that needed his responsibilities as a jounin to clarify but not Naruto. Also, why he brought Sasuke away for special training during the chuunin exams was another part of his coniving plans; it wouldn't do if people started questioning why he started paying more attention towards Naruto when he was given responsibilities over a far better student; the Uchiha. If he had indeed taken Naruto under his wing, wouldn't there be mutterings and discussion about why he was spending time on a 'failure' of a student, instead of a prodigy?

Even now he shudder to think about the consequences of such an action. There was a very good reason he had done all of this and it was to protect Naruto. Had he actually done so, people would have indeed question his actions and if they did follow such a trail of thought, it wouldn't be too long when they started linking up the resemblance between a young twelve year old Naruto with the village's fourth hokage. To make matters worse, enemy shinobis would only target him all the more, on the account that not only was he the fourth's legacy but the jinchuriki of the fire nation, seeing as the past hosts were only people who had blood relations with a kage. Of course Kakashi cared about Naruto's development as a shinobi as well but due to his many responsibilities, he could only devote more time to one over the other. Not that this was particular hard for the jounin, as he had cunningly planned a surprise meeting for Naruto with the Toad sage, without knowing it. Even now, the blonde still had no idea that that 'coincidence' between him and his godfather was no mere 'coincidence' afterall. It was shocking what an ex-anbu captain could do but this was Copy ninja Kakashi we are talking about and hence why it was such an easy feat for him to achieve.

Yet for all his efforts, the jounin was not able to correct every single obstacle that happened along the way. Primary of them all was his absence in trying to stop their fated battle so long ago. Granted, he should have been there but it wasn't and his guilt haunts him to this very day. Despite all this however, Kakashi had indeed done everything he could for Naruto but he was not perfect and regardless of the numerous accounts of mishaps that happened along the way, Naruto looked up to his teacher as the father-figure he never hand, second only to Iruka. Naruto also knew of the burden his sensei had to go through such as keeping tabs on the anbus as well as managing other teams [Hidan and Kakuzu arc] and why he shrug off all those times when his sensei was never there for him. However, there was one thing Naruto could never overlook and it was perhaps the only, and biggest, failure in his student's eyes that his sensei could have rectify but didn't and it was that he had never stop the rookies from making fun of him.

Sad to say, it was indeed very hard for a sensei to ever keep track on his student's social development. In retrospect, Kakashi could have indeed done something but it wouldn't do any good either. If he had told the rookies off for their bullying on Naruto, they would only ostracise him more. What about telling the other senseis? Then Naruto would be called a snitch and nobody likes being called a snitch. So with that in mind, Kakashi had opted not to interfere. If anything, Naruto was supposed to sort this out himself. Besides, as a shinobi, if you couldn't work with your allies, then you're better off not being one. Ninjas faced life and death situations everyday, what could a few hard words do? They were also condition to kill their emotions when the situation called for it. However, this was a mojor miscalculation on the grey-haired ninja's part; shinobis were still human and regardsless, they were all still prone to emotional turmoil, more so when the hurt came from your friends instead of your enemies. had he actuallly thought about all this, Kakashi could have avoided such a drastic problem. Yet, he had left it to fester and it had grown from being a mere teasing to one where his prized student was willing to break those hard-forged bonds that his sensei had tried so hard to preserve. The new generation needed to stay united and Naruto was that linchpin. If he was gone, everything would crumble. The ironic thing was, despite being the linchpin, the rookies didn't see it that way and they 'glue' that held them together was in fact, their belittling of their blonde friend.

**[Author's note: All this is true! SO NEVER EVER BULLY ANYONE! Teachers can't do anything and Parents can't either. Most of the time it'll only make matters worse. Then again, it's always best to seek help. My advise, is to find friends who can back you up no matter what. Adults only make matters worse since the teachers and parents will never know what occurs behind their backs. Also that stupid phrase "sticks and stone will break my bones blah blah blah" doesn't work. Words will hurt and they will hurt even after many years. How did I deal with my bullying? Oh, I took Martial arts lessons and being the goody two shoes that I was back in high school, the teachers never believed that I could ever beat up anyone seeing as I was very respectful and courteous to all my peers. Also, I only did it ONCE because I was having a very bad day and even then he got off (mostly) scot free with a parting threat. Needless to say, I was left alone after that. Still I don't advocate violence.]**

"Explain," Kakashi demanded. For a fleeting moment, Naruto looked like he was about to disobey but then he felt that tingling sensation in his gut once more, a feeling that only seemed to urge him to do so. If anything, a direct heart o heart talk with his sensei was what he had always wanted. All those times when he felt that Kakashi was being unfair, irresponsible and showing disregard for his skills and growth and shinobi, he had always wanted to yell at his sensei but now that he was being given a chance, his voice was lost. However, Naruto knew that he was never going to get another chance such as this and, rather reluctantly, opened up to his sensei about all those years of oent up anger and misery from his so-called friends. Also, while he hated to admit it, he wanted his sensei to feel a part of his pain that Kakashi coud have easily solved instead of avoiding it all this time. Unfortunately for him, Kakashi showed no outward sign of emotion and for a moment, even Naruto doubt whether his sensei was even taking him seriously. It wasn't until Kurama grudgingly opened his negative sensing skill that Naruto finally understood the pain that his sensei was feeling.

True, Kakashi had always tried to be there for him and had always strove to be the best but in the jounin's eyes, all that was nothing if his student could no longer consider the bonds he currently had worth saving. Truth be told, Kakashi had never felt this bad since the time he lost Rin and since decades, he found himself somewhat lost on what to do. Lecturing the rookies wouldn't do any good anymore, he was too little too late. Also, from what his student informed about the samurai, they were not people he was willing to fight, if they were able to give his student a hard time. Besides...crossing the Firelord was never good for a shinobi's reputation as well as future career. Even the Godaime had to follow the feudal lords order, seeing as this was his country and in his country, whatever the Firelord says was law. Tsunade was going to hate that particular piece of information.

What was really surprising for Naruto however, was that Kakashi didn't actually seemed to faze about the whole secret mission. No doubt, he was extremely sorry for the rookies behavious but the whole anbu classified mission didn't put him off in the least, a fact that made the blonde extremely wary. There were just some things that could never escape his sensei's attention and this looked like it was one of them...

"So where does that leave us now Kaka-sensei?" Naruto asked suddenly. The jounin sighed out once more before scratching his back.

"I'm sorry Naruto," he apologised sincerly. "All those times...I thought...you could handle it. But please don't blame the rookies, Naruto. If you want to blame someone, blame me, your useless sensei."

"No," he protested firmly. "You did what you thought was right, despite being way off course. However, regardless of what you did, you tried anyway and you are at fault here. I...have already forgiven the rookies sensei."

"You have?!"

"Hai," he answered back with a small smile. "I was never one to brood, like teme. The only thing I want to do now is to fullfill my mission."

"You're just trying to get away from the problem, Naruto," Kakashi reasoned. "If anything, you're only prolonging the matter."

"I know," his student admitted. "But I don't care. Please sensei...let me take this mission. I want to get away from it all. You could do this much at least."

"You're going no matter what I say aren't you?" Kakashi sighed, before pulling something dark from his back and tossing it to the blonde. "Very well, You'll need this, I suppose."

"My mask," he answered dumbly. "You're...letting me go?

"On one condition," his sensei eye-smiled once more.

"That depends..." he answered back warily. "What do you want?"

At that, his sensei replied, "I'm coming with you, whether you like it or not."

* * *

><p>Chapter end<p>

Sorry this chapter took so long guys and sorry for the lack of action .. I hate to re-write everything because I wanted to try seeing things from Kakashi's perspective. Also, I tried playing around with the whole teasing thing so as to give a better understanding from Naruto's point of view. The emotional stuff ends here I'm afraid and action begins once more the next chapter round. The mission should start in two-or three chapters time but be warned; the plot only gets much more complicated from here on and there'll be many bombs ad revelations!

P.S. Lots of cliffhangers as well :P


	19. Chapter 19

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO**

**Author's note: **Hi again guys and just a little something for you seeing as I have quite a bit more time than I usually do. I'm having a bit of writer's block so hopefully this will satify you somewhat. I don't usually do this but I know how frustrating it is to be in the dark regarding certain characters and hence why I've complied a little data sheet regarding the moonlight force's abilities as well as characteristics. I know it's not much but I hope you guys find it as interesting to read as it was for me to write.

Following this, I might actually do another of this omake regarding the structure of the moonlight kingdom's military and its heirachy if reviews are good, so don't forget to review if you like these sort of omakes!

Once more, stay awesome!

* * *

><p>Chapter 19: Omake [The hidden files]<p>

**Background and relations of the Moonlight Nation**

**The Moonlight Kingdom:** A mysterious kingdom that lies far north to the five elemental nation. Not much is known of its people or of its culture and heritage. What is do known however, is coveted by the five great nations as they obliterated, one of the smaller nation years ago as an example of those who try to cross its path. Relations between the five elemental nations and the Moonlight Kingdom has always been strained due to the controlling nature of the former. However after the war, the moonlight kingdom ceased all forms of communications with allies and foes alike. This war was often called 'The Forgotten War" on account of the fact that despite involving a massacre involving the destruction of a large portion of the moonlight forces, only a select few shinobis participated from the elemental nations. Even today, only a handful lived to tell the tale of what happened on that fateful night, oh so many years ago...

**The Forgotten War**: A secret war between the five elemental nations and the Moonlight kingdom. The reason why it was considered a secret war was due to the fact that despite involving six major nations, selected fews from the elemental countries were chosen to participate in the joint-effort coalition army against the moonlight forces. A incident most likely, due to the fact that the power held by the Moonlight Kingdom would have forced most to re-consider such an action. Despite the victory won by the Moonlight forces, the kingdom was dealt with an incredible blow that crippled its military and led to a subsequent fall in power. However, this particular piece of information was kept secret from the public, partly in due to the fact that the daimyos of the five nations controlled such information from leaking out in the public. Had such information leaked out, it would have led to a public revolt and outcry, especially from the smaller nations.

**Aftermath of the war:** Many excellent shinobis of elite jounin and anbu captain status were reported "MIA" [Missing in action] following the defeat of the elemental nation. Those who did return alive however, refused to ever talk about the event ever again. The only thing they were willing to impart, however, was to never try such an action ever again. Classified information regarding one of the survivors, had this to say,

"They slaughtered everyone! Everything! He..._he_ was a monster! He...he said we...[rest of the information is too incoherent to understand]"

**Current status of the Moonlight Kingdom:** Ever since the cutting off of public ties with the elemental nations, trading between the two have stopped completely. Such a blow plunged the elemental countries into a severe state of economic depression seeing as the Kingdom itself had abundant resources, not natural, but rather informational. The kingdom itself was comprised of excellent shinobi and samurai, both of whom, were always continous developing better and much more refined forms of jutsu. A world war would have started, if not for the fact that the kingdom shared its knowledge with the smaller nations in an effort to undermine the authority of the five elemental countries.

Unfortunately, one of the smaller nations chose to betray the trust and was henceforth made an example. To this day, the relationship between the kingdom and its remaining allies has become strained and there are no longer exchanges of information. Trade however, continues to flourish. For its enemies, however, the kingdom remains ever so vigilant...

* * *

><p><span><strong> The Moonlight Forces:<strong>

**Samurais:  
><strong>

Trained guards, clothe in armour who specialise in the art of the sword. These warriors represent the epitome of what the Moonlight Kingdom has chose to stand ever since its inception, millenia ago; loyalty, strength, courage, discipline, determination and many more. Long before the age of ninjutsu when ninshu was present, samurai were the golden warriors of old. A tradition that until today still passes on in the moonlight kingdom. To be a samurai was no easy feat in the Moonlight Kingdom as there was but one requirement; never ever give up.

Trainees and recruits were pushed through relentless amounts of training, sometimes days on without rest and even then they were forced to duel with the more veteran members. Should they even falter once, admission would be re-voke with not so much as a second chance. Regardless, those who never made the cut have rejoinced for the regiment seeing as they were indeed never made for the responsibilities and burden of the samurai militia.

Over the years however, concepts of chakra control and basic ninjutsu have been incoporated into the samurai's training regiment. Such an act however, no matter how basic the change, nor how small the incorporation has only led to wonders. It was a msytery how the simple clone, substitution and body flicker jutsu made their force so strong. All other forms of jutsu, however, were forbidden except for the higher rank officers, and even then, they were restricted on what they can or cannot learn.

**Shinobi:**

Shinobis and kunoichi represent a smaller faction of the moonlight kingdom, only just below samurais but both hold equal measure. Unlike samurais however, the civilian population came to view ninjutsu as a necessary evil following the days that saw the collapse of the concept of ninshu and the sbsequent rise of the shinobi system. It was to this end that to become a shinobi, one must master their more darker tendencies seeing as the power that came along with the responsibility was almost too great a burden to share. Ninjas of the moonlight kingdom faced dire threat every day, as most of their missions send them to faraway places, some of whom never return home to.

Similar to the samurai system, the shinobi of the kingdom have ranks, based on merits and experience. Unlike the samurai system however, the ranks within them were much more complex and numerous. Also, ninjas followed the example of the infamous senju clan, in that 'a thousand hands, a thousand skills'. As such, forces spent countless hours each day, devoted to the study and mastering of the elemental, basic and major three classes of jutsu. No matter what rank you are as a shinobi, you were never considered a true elite until you achieved the highest rank, a position held by few and yet in much respect.

* * *

><p><span><strong>Hinata's forces<strong>

**A)The Fiv****e**** Samurais**

**Name: Midori **

**Age: 18**

**Gender: Female**

**Rank: Unknown**

**Special squad duties: Second-in-command of the samurai squad**

**Special traits: Elemental manipulation of Earth**

A cynical, by-the-bookand no-nonsense green haired teen who earned her position at the very early age of fifteen. It was only true torturous trials and unyielding faith in both herself and her clan that eventually granted Midori her high ranked position at such a young age. Held as a prodigy by her clan and family, Midori hopes to end the dark age clouding her beloved kingdom ever since the war years ago. Many look to her as a role model but she declines any words of praise saying that she has much to learn, especially since escorting the princess was considered her first ever top-priority mission.

Stats:

Strength-5/5 Ninjutsu: 2/5

Speed-3/5 Taijutsu: 5/5

Intelligence-4/5 Genjutsu: 2/5

Experience-3/5 Handseals: 1/5

Stamina-5/5

**Name: Hanako**

**Age: 17**

**Gender: Female**

**Rank: Unknown**

****Special squad duties: Hinata's personal bodyguard and the squad's combat specialist  
><strong>**

**Special traits: Elemental manipulation of Fire**

A foreign girl who was adopted by the royal family. Much of this fiesty's girls history remain largely unknown, and despite the fact that she was not originally from said kingdom, she has long view it as her country. What she does remember however is shrouded in mystery and horrible silthouttes. The only clear thing to this day that the red-haired girl remembers is a single sentence that her dying grandmother told her when they accidentally gained access to the Moonlight Kingdom.

"Revive our clan, Hanako...I entrust this to you. Find the one who holds the legacy, remember, the blue thread of life will guide you to the successor. Never forget that..."

To this day, she has never learnt the true meaning those words but she also yet to give up. Hanako grew up together with Hinata, forming her very first bond with the young princess. At first, nothing more than a playmate, she grew to treasure her bond with the princess and swore to give up her life to protect the very person who saved her from a life of desolation and solitute. It wasn't until the young princess's banishment that Hanako finally took up the art of the sword and forgo the art of the shinobi in order to protect her foster sister. True loyalty never dies and it seems that she has indeed inherit her clan's legacy...

Stats:

Strength-4/5 Ninjutsu: 3/5

Speed-4/5 Taijutsu: 5/5

Intelligence-3/5 Genjutsu: 3/5

Experience-2/5 Handseals: 2/5

Stamina-5/5

**Name: Hikaru  
><strong>

**Age: 16**

**Gender: Female**

**Rank: Unknown**

****Special squad duties: The squad's strategist and tactician  
><strong>**

**Special traits: Elemental manipulation of Lightning**

A cheerful, energetic and happy-go-lucky teen as far as impressions go, do not let this fool you. Hailed as a prodigy by even her own comrades, Hikaru is not someone you want to cross paths with, ever. Descendant of another famed clan unique to the Moonlight Kingdom, this young heiress is a both a master manipulator as well as strategic genius and tactical expert. Known for her tricks of grasping victory from inevitable defeat, she came under the scrutiny of the Military head. When question why she chosed to accept a position as a samurai and not a shinobi, given her mental prowess, her answer stunned her even master speechless.

"Its more fun this way, hee."

Though she keeps her true rank hidden from even her friends, this young girl has spear-handed many different forms of project, both espionage and open warfare for the kingdom from behind the scenes and that was why she was given such a dangerous mission on protecting the princess. Despite this however, she is rather inexperience in true combat and rather naive when it comes to dating, guys and relationships...

Stats:

Strength-3/5 Ninjutsu: 2/5

Speed-5/5 Taijutsu: 4/5

Intelligence-5/5 Genjutsu: 2/5

Experience-4/5 Handseals: 1/5

Stamina-2/5

**Name: Ryo  
><strong>

**Age: 21**

**Gender: Male**

**Rank: Unknown**

****Special squad duties: The Team Leader  
><strong>**

**Special traits: Elemental manipulation of Water**

An extremely mischevious young man who, despite all his faults and maybe because of it, was finally chosen as squad captain for the samurai group. Coming from a civilian background, Ryo withstood the harsh training regiment of the samurai corps as well as the criticism from both civilian and clan members for his actions. Hailed as gifter orator with true leadership qualities, Ryo has lead many a team through harsh missions ever since his recruitment at the age of sixteen. Perhaps not the strongest in the group due to his less than favourable blood ties, Ryo is some would call a true worker who fights for what is right and who knows what is best for others.

Guided by his own sense of morality, Ryo's moral compass has never let him down, even in times of desperation. It is most likely due to this as well as the fact that he never submits his will to anyone, superior or not, on questions of morality that finally earned his place as an elite samurai, squad captain even. Though cheeky at times, this blue haired youth is known to get serious when the situation calls for it. Despite being popular with the ladies, he can never quite settle down, a fact his co-leader berates him for, due to his somewhat flirtatious and nonsense behaviour when not on a mission.

Stats:

Strength-3/5 Ninjutsu: 2/5

Speed-3/5 Taijutsu: 3/5

Intelligence-4/5 Genjutsu: 2/5

Experience-5/5 Handseals: 1/5

Stamina-3/5

**Name: Takeishi  
><strong>

**Age: 22  
><strong>

**Gender: Male**

**Rank: Unknown**

****Special squad duties: The squad's negotiator and facilitator  
><strong>**

**Special traits: Elemental manipulation of Air**

A quiet and humble man who, similar to Midori and Hikaru, comes from another prodigious clan in the Moonlight Kingdom. Takeishi is known for his modest and silent outlook of every situation and embodies everything the squad should be. The typical samurai, he is not one to jest, a fact that even the cynical Midori acknowledges. Having worked many times with Ryo, Takeishi acts as his right hand man but has currently re-delegated the position to the oldest girl in the group.

Ryo and takeishi met each other when they were both fresh recruits and his serious personality acts as a contrasting agent to his more excitable friend. In essence, he is what Ryo would be when pressed into a serious situation. Not one for talk, Takeishi is a man who uses actions to solve problems when words aren't enough, he is not afraid to show it. Similar to Hikaru, Takeishi was also on the shinobi system until he chose to abandon it for reason not quite known. It is only due to his clans' ties that he is able to act as such.

What made Takeishi different from the others, however, is his amazing negotiation skill. While prefering to indeed use a sword, this man knows just how powerful words can be and he is, in essence, the 'glue' that holds the team together. With Midori's cynicism, Hikaru's playfulness, Hanako's temper and Ryo's mischievouness, such a skill proves invaluable, and his team mates knows just how important his addition to the team is. Unlike the rest, Takeishi has greater and far wider use of ninjutsu that his samurai comrades on account of his past experience and, granted special privelage, is allowed to used these same skills.

Stats:

Strength-4/5 Ninjutsu: 3/5

Speed-4/5 Taijutsu: 4/5

Intelligence-4/5 Genjutsu: 4/5

Experience-4/5 Handseals: 4/5

Stamina-4/5

**B) The Five Shinobis**

**Name: Satoru [real identity: Shisui]  
><strong>

**Age: 21  
><strong>

**Gender: Male**

**Rank: Unknown**

****Special team duties: The Ace  
><strong>**

**Special traits: Immense speed and reaction time  
><strong>

Once part of a clan whose skills its members even acknowledge, the fallen ninja sacrificed everything for the safety of the village. Despite surviving, he vowed never to interfere in the affairs of his former villages for fear of what Danzo would do to a young Sasuke. Throughout the years, however, Shisui never lost sight of what was truly important, nor was he ever a victim of his clan's accursed curse.

While the true relationship of Naruto's father and Shisui has never been fully explored, it was suggested by the young Uchiha, that Minato took a serious outlook on his development as a ninja. Shisui even made anbu at one point, being perhaps the third youngest person, behind Kakashi and Itachi, to ever graced the anbu ranks. Known by his moniker, Shisui of the body flicker, his skills have grown throughout the years, a claim that he made, following the lost of his eyesight, which only seems to have strengthen his other skills.

Shisui was saved by Ryota, a Moonlight Shinobi and taught by the same person on all the different forms of ninjutsu that the older man had learnt, becoming almost like a second father for the lost Uchiha. Now a Moonlight shinobi, he will do anything to see the return of the princess and his will of fire burns so ever brightly than it had before.

Stats:

Strength-3/5 Ninjutsu: 4/5

Speed-5/5 Taijutsu: 5/5

Intelligence-5/5 Genjutsu: 3/5

Experience-5/5 Handseals: 3/5

Stamina-3/5

**Name: Ryota  
><strong>

**Age: 33  
><strong>

**Gender: Male**

**Rank: Unknown**

****Special Team duties: The Veteran  
><strong>**

**Special traits: Vast wisdom of the Five nation's politics, economics, military as well as all the three classes of jutsu  
><strong>

If there was ever a word to describe the pacifist Ryota, it would be '_necessity_'. Originally a scholar, his knowledge of the shinobi arts grew and eager to prove himself, Ryota was responsible for several of the Moonlight Kingdom's new and more effective jutsu. Unfortunately, it was because of this that the Military head and the king both requested his transfer from the scholar department to the shinobi forces.

Why Ryota never argued was just that; necessity. Ryota need how powerful his jutsus could be and took it upon himself to train individuals who could use them without abusing their power, as well as those who could properly monitor the same practioners of his creation. Held in high regard by all, Ryota's true strength lies not in his inventions but rather his vast wisdom and knowledge of the Shinobi word.

With access to information that not even others could hope to dream of, he is one of the few who knows the true history of the Moonlight Kingdom, as well the birth of the shinobi system, the ongoing battle of the Uchiha and Senju clan and most importantly, who the generation's successor's are and why he took just a big interest with Naruto. Despite this however, he has yet to reveal what he truly knows for knowledge such as his should not be taken too lightly. He also knows that Ashura and Indra aren't the only two to have gotten themselves involved in the continous wheel...

Stats:

Strength-2/5 Ninjutsu: 5/5

Speed-2/5 Taijutsu: 2/5

Intelligence-4/5 Genjutsu: 5/5

Experience-4/5 Handseals: 5/5

Stamina-2/5

**Name: Kiyoko  
><strong>

**Age: 17  
><strong>

**Gender: Female**

**Rank: Unknown**

****Special team duties: The team's espionage and infiltration expert  
><strong>**

**Special traits: Uncanny stealth skills, resourcefulness and One-hit-finishing blows  
><strong>

Another beauty of the Moonlight Kingdom, Kiyoko is as pleasant as her abilities are concerned; _nasty_. When not on missions, she tends to adopt a peaceful, serence and soft atmosphere around her friends. On a mission however, she is the very first line of offense, striving to take down the leader of their opponents so as to avoid further bloodshed. With skills even an anbu captain would be envious off, this raven haired teen is not to be taken lightly, having seen her fair share of assasination and torture missions.

Such a traumatising experience was due to the death of her beloved mother at such a young age. Crying for months on end, her father berated her for her weakness and shunned her, stripping away all forms of comfort and love for what he deemed as weakness from his daughter. Such an act hardened her previously innocent heart and forver change her outlook on life. Forgoing her past as chains binding her to something she had no control ever, Kiyoko rose through the shinobi ranks at the tender age of thirteen, becoming an unlucky figure upon her likely victims. With her humanity almost gone, she faced her father and best him in a duel in front of her clan, thus taking the title of clan heir away from him.

However, ironic as it seemes, she refused the title of clan heir and devoted herself night and day, in the shinobi sect, further degrading her humanity. It was only too late that her father realised just what he had done and had requested special permission to send her to fetch the princess back. Unknown to her however, her father had always cared much for her wellbeing but as clan heir, it would never do to let him pamper her as the needs of the many always outweight the needs of the few. If anything, he hopes that the soft and kind nature can redeem Kiyoko from her inhuman and traumatising experience...

Stats:

Strength-2/5 Ninjutsu: 3/5

Speed-5/5 Taijutsu: 5/5

Intelligence-4/5 Genjutsu: 5/5

Experience-5/5 Handseals: 1/5

Stamina-3/5

**Name: Maria  
><strong>

**Age: 17  
><strong>

**Gender: Female**

**Rank: Unknown**

****Special squad duties: The team's medical expert  
><strong>**

**Special traits: Healing techniques and knowledge of medicinal salves/herbs  
><strong>

A gentle soul with a soft voice and a small smile, Maria hides something behind that tearful smile of hers that her comrades wished to help but hesitate to intrude upon. Much like Hanako, Maria's history is shourded in mystery. Unlike Hanako however, she knows what exactly happened in her past to make her the woman that she is today.

Maria is one who hesitates to take the fist fight in battle, always relying on others to fight for her, as she is unwilling to take down even a single soul, no matter how wretched they are. Despite her warmth personality however, she has informed others multiple times that she is not one that they should be trifling with. A fact, though unknown to her current team mates, are respected by them. Ryota, however, seems to be extremely aware of just what she is capable of and so is Mitsuo. What she did to earned their fear has yet to be seen but following their reluctance to explain, it seems Maria is one of those people whose temper tends to get the better of them sometimes.

If that is not enough to justify such an act however, perhaps this will; never in the years of the current Military head of the Moonlight Kingdom has he ever been extremely wary of anyone except Maria. If the person who could reduce Sasuke to a mere mess of broken bones just by toying with him is very aware of this better than average healer, it makes you wonder just exactly what she could do to warrant such a statement. Wary or not, even King Sho appears to be afraid of her and Prince Akihiko has stated many times that he is glad Maria is not under his jurisdiction...

Strength-?/5 Ninjutsu: ?/5

Speed-?/5 Taijutsu: ?/5

Intelligence?/5 Genjutsu: ?/5

Experience-?/5 Handseals: ?/5

Stamina-?/5

**Name: Seiji  
><strong>

**Age: 19  
><strong>

**Gender: Male**

**Rank: Unknown**

****Special team duties: The team's decoy and senser  
><strong>**

**Special traits: Unique prowess in all three forms of ninjutsu as well as senjutsu.  
><strong>

Loud and bositerous, Seiji is perhaps the biggest out of all the Moonlight forces. The typical powerhouse, Seiji excels in all forms of combat, be it physical, mental or physcological. Despite his accomplishment and capabilities, he has continously admitted that he is not as smart nor as wise as the rest of his friends. The Moonlight forces, though admitting this flaw of his, downplays it, seeing as he always seemed to be able to catch the opponent offguard, be it fair or unfair fights.

Not one to grasp the subtle hints and thin concept of negotioation, politics and the like, Seiji prefers to solve problems with his fists, a sentiment that had many a times provoke a young Hikaru's wrath. In response, the blood teens plays numerous pranks as recompense for not thinking things true. Regardless, Seiji's heart is in the right place and, despite numerous response from Hikaru, never takes her actions to heart. An action that always seems to work best against her, as her guilt woud eventually catch up with her.

A kind and caring man, Seiji will never hesitate to strike down a foe in cold blood, but not before giving them a chance to back away. Of those who chose not to listen, none ever survive. This is the prime reason why one should never underestimate the compassionate teen.

Stats:

Strength-5/5 Ninjutsu: 4/5

Speed-1/5 Taijutsu: 5/5

Intelligence-2/5 Genjutsu: 5/5

Experience-3/5 Handseals: 2/5

Stamina-2/5

* * *

><p><span><strong>Others<strong>

**Name: Hinata  
><strong>

**Age: 17  
><strong>

**Gender: Female**

**Rank: Princess of the Moonlight Kingdom  
><strong>

****Special duties: Seer and co-heir to the throne  
><strong>**

**Special traits: Able to see the future in 'fracture dreams'  
><strong>

The princess bears a great burden on her shoulders and a great suffering in her soul. Despite all this however, she is willing to risk her life in order to mend the broken bonds in her family. Responsible and dedicated to the mission at hand, Hinata is not one to speak her mind out should the occasion demand it. She shows a bit of fondness for Naruto, knowing that their fates are intertwined somehow. Regardless, she is only focused on the task at hand and is determined to see her way home.

**Name: Mitsuo  
><strong>

**Age: 54  
><strong>

**Gender: Male**

**Rank: Unknown**

****Special duties: The princess's provider  
><strong>**

**Special traits: None**

Like Hinata, Mitsuo is determined to see peace restore to their little Kingdom. However, he knows only too well just what is going on in her mind and is worried for her sake. Through the years following the young girl's banishment, Mitsuo acted as a surrogate father towards her and hence why she has begun acting as such. Mitsuo worries for the bluenette's mental state but knows that he cannot shake her from her duty as princess. It was only due to her persistent pleasing that he finally relented and requested Naruto's presence before their departure to the Moonlight Kingdom.

* * *

><p><span><strong>LASTLY THIS GUY<strong>

**Name: ?  
><strong>

**Age: 17  
><strong>

**Gender: Male**

**Rank: Military Head of the Moonlight Kingdom  
><strong>

****Special duties: Overseer of the entire Moonlight forces and second in terms of power in the Kingdom.  
><strong>**

**Special traits: Total control over the five basic elements  
><strong>

Just who the Military head of the Moonlight Kingdom or what he is capable off is only known to the Moonlight forces. If there is anything to go by however, his accesnscion to such a high ranking position at such a young age is enough to stunned all the militia. Just how he achieved this position and just what his true goals are unknown. What is unknown however is the fact that the royal family trusts him as much when it came to handling power. If anything, Kurama and the others vaguely hint towards his presence but not so much in this lifetime. The tail-beast are very worried about the Moonlight Kingdom but could it really be due to this person or other factors that they have not yet consider off?

Stats:

Strength-?/5 Ninjutsu: ?/5

Speed-?/5 Taijutsu: ?/5

Intelligence-?/5 Genjutsu: ?/5

Experience-?/5 Handseals: ?/5

Stamina-?/5

* * *

><p>That's the omake guys. Rest assured that they won't be spoilers in them, as everything was already hinted before in the previous chapters. If this does indeed opened you eyes and make you scream spoilers, then you weren't as keen to details as you should have been.<p>

If anything though, there are many more mysteries and I can't wait to see your expression when I do reveal them. Like always, if you omake like this, I'll plan another one, so don't forget to reveiw! Stay awesome!


	20. Chapter 20

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO.**

**Author's Note: **Hi again guys and sorry for late update. Anyway, we'll be finally moving on with the mission. its time to finally get going but first we're going to have to sort out a few inconsistencies. So, on to the next chapter!

* * *

><p>Chapter 20: The road to leadership.<p>

_At Konoha's town centre, late night_

"I won't say it again," a dark figure muttered as the victim struggled against his captor's will. "Where did they go?"

"For the last time," the tied-up anbu muttered. "I don't know! But know this...even if I did know, I would never tell you anything!"

Eyes frowning behind that make shift-black mask of hers, the kunoichi bent another one of her victim's fingers. A snap followed and a squeal of pain after that but the man remained ever so tight-lipped about his position. "You're out of fingers...which can only mean one thing. You really have no intel for me what-so-ever. Well, you've outlived your usefulness. Goodbye."

With that, the kunoichi flung the poor man down the building where they were currently standing on. His muffled screams echoing through the night but the kunoichi was no amateur in dealings such as this and had specifically selected a location where they would be no one to observe the proceedings, as well as the tortured screams of her captive. Just as the anbu had accepted his fate, a forced pushed him just out of reach of the cold hard floor and only seconds away from his untimely demise.

"Thank you," he managed to mumbled up at his saviour. It seemed that back-up had finally come. As he turned to face his unseen saviour however, a quick blow to the head, followed by the unmistakable crack as metal met head and the anbu realised just how wrong he was. A second later, his shoulders slumped and his feet sagged, before finally crumbling onto the floor, an unconscious figure in the lonely night.

"You took that a bit too far, Kiyoko," the unseen person said as he suddenly appeared behind the kunoichi.

"You should have seen what I did with his team mates," the raven haired girl answered back darkly. "Intel is intel and my way works best, so stay out of it."

"We were ordered not to kill any leaf shinobi," her friend protested calmly. "You just threw a defenceless man down a building, an action which would have no doubt led to his death."

"I didn't throw him down," the Kunoichi replied, reshealthing her blade before hoisting it behind her back. "He _fell_."

There was a tired sigh from the man as he made his way up to her. It was time to find out what she knew. "So, did you find anything?"

"No," she answered him back without so much as a glance. "These leaf shinobis are more hard-pressed than any others I've ever come across when Uzumaki-san is concerned, Takeishi-kun."

"Well, you'll be happy to know that Mitsuo-sama sent me to inform you that our little guest is back," the samurai answered back quietly.

"You're hiding something, aren't you?" she accused suddenly, to which he merely nodded. "Spit it out."

"It seems Naruto-san has decided to bring along a certain someone with him and Mitsuo-sama doesn't seem to like it," her companion answered back.

"We shall see about that." They were making their way back to the hotel now, side by side one another. "Afterall, my blade thrists for a battle..."

* * *

><p><em>At the hotel,<em>

As each of the Moonlight forces turn to glare dangerously at Naruto's newcomer, Hinata, princess and co-heir to the throne of the Moonlight Kingdom, could only sighed out in frustration. The tension, she noted, was so thick that you could cut it with a knife. Literally. Now more than ever, she wished that Takeishi was here. Only moments before, her foster father, Mitsuo, had decided to send him to find one of their more dangerous guards, before their hired mercenary decided to show up. Along with an unexpected guess. Truth be told, Takeishi was certainly the ideal solution, seeing as Kiyoko got along better with him than anyone else in the group. However, sending him away was what led them to this current predicament. Her protectors and guardians were essentially soldiers, not diplomats and when push came to shove, they preferred to solve fights with their fist, not with their words. Takeishi might be a samurai but he was also an excellent peace -maker and times like this called for his ability to reason out arguments instead of throwing their weight around, seeing who could over-power who. What made matters worse however, was the fact that her usually aloof foster father, Mitsuo, was somehow eyeing the spiky grey-haired jounin with anger and resentment. A testament, that she also noticed, was also shared by two others; Satoru, formerly known as Shisui of the body flicker, and Ryota, the veteran ninja in their little group.

"This is a surprise," the jounin spoke out suddenly. "I had not expected to be meeting you anything soon, Mitsuo-sama."

"You!" the older man growled. "What are you doing here?! Get out of my sight this instance!"

"Easy, Mitsuo-sama," Naruto replied, suprised at the older man's sudden anger. While he did not know what his sensei could have done to earn his employer's wrath, he also knew that Kakashi was responsible for more than a few important deaths in the neighbouring countries. From the way things were going, the blonde thought grimly, it seemed that whatever mission his sensei must have taken, it seemed to have put both of them on opposite sides.

"Explain," Shisui demanded in an authoritative tone.

"Kaka-sensei helped me a while back." The blonde knew he needed to trend carefully, a single mess-up now could cause a brawl to break out. Once more, he began to question his decision in bringing his sensei along. Looking back, perhaps this wasn't exactly the wisest of choices. Then again, Kakashi wasn't exactly one he could just asked to turn away without fully understanding the situation. All in all, it was a rather unfortunate set-back for Naruto. He wouldn't be able persuade his sensei otherwise, discounting the fact that he would actually have to knock Kakashi out and under no circumstances was Naruto ever going to resort to such a step. His actions with Lee and Tenten had proven just that when he barely put up a fight to defend himself. "And Kaka-sensei requested an audience Mitsuo-sama. Will you, at least, hear him out?"

"I don't want to hear whatever it is you've got to say, Hatake," Mitsuo spat. "Naruto, I'll overlook this little mishap just this once since you don't know but I'll tell you now so that the won't be any misunderstanding. That man is not our ally!"

At that, the blonde anbu turned to raise an eyebrow at Kakashi. To his credit, the jounin merely eye-smiled. "It seems that I won't be able to help you out afterall Naruto. I apologise for intruding upon your presence Mitsuo-sama. I'll be taking my leave then."

"Wait," the blonde interuptted, reaching out an arm and grabbing Kakashi's. "What is going on here, sensei?"

"Best you find out from them, Naruto," the jounin answered before vanishing in a puff of smoke. The tension in the room subsided just as quickly as it had begun and once more, everyone got back down into a sitting position. There were however, the blonde noticed, glares all around the room now that there hadn't been before. Slowly, he made his way towards Mitsuo before sitting himself down in front of the older man, his eyebrows raised once more, in a questioning look.

"Best you don't find out," the man snapped before hurriedly changing the subject. "Naruto, get yourself ready. We leave at noon."

"Why not at dawn?" he answered back. Curiosity was rippling through him over the sudden anger his clinet was showing towards his sensei but sense told him to hold his tongue. It was neither the time nor the place to be digging about the past. Similarly, if the man wasn't going to be sharing about their particular incident, he shouldn't be prying into it and right now, there were more pressing matters to attend to. "If Tsunade-sama sent anbus after me, they'll be sending more once the alert goes out that the batch she's dispatched has been neutralised."

"I agree with Uzumaki-san," a silent voice cut out from behind him, as both Kiyoko and Takeishi entered the room. " It would be in our best interest to leave as soon as possible."

"Hmm," this time the old man merely frowned before stroking his beard slowly. "Let that be my problem. I have an ace up my sleeve that will effectively trumped whatever card the Hokage can come up with. If anything, you'll all need as much rest as you can get. That includes you, Naruto. Be here by ten o'clock tomorrow morning."

The blonde anbu nodded once at that. Something still didn't make sense but he could see that Mitsuo wasn't going to be answering anymore of his questions that night. With a wave of his hand, the older man dismissed his retainers, requesting that they leave both him and the princess to discuss their plans home. As everyone turned to file out and leave the room, Naruto focussed his attention on the group of people before singling out the person he was looking for. As the raven haired youth turn to the left of the corridor, Naruto suddenly appeared in front of him, before grabbing his arm out in the process.

"I don't know what happened between the two of them if you're wondering," Shisui muttered as he shook off the blonde's grip. "If anything, you need to get ready Naruto. This is not going to be an easy task."

"Perhaps," he answered back. "But tell me, why were you so angry with Kaka-sensei?"

At that, the raven-haired youth turned round to face him, his face an angry frown once more. "Your sensei was my captain, once upon a time ago. He always preached about how comrades should never ever abandon comrades and yet, being the hypocrite that he is, he couldn't even stick to his own code of conduct."

"What are you talking about?"

"Look Naruto. I don't care what it was that Kakashi that got himself involved with Mitsuo-sama. What I am upset is that, despite everything he's accomplished so far, he's failed to protect the two people on this Earth that meant the world to me," the Uchiha muttured bitterly. Already he could feel the next question coming and so he hurried pressed on. "Your parents, Naruto. Your..._sensei_, gave his word on my grave to always watched over the two people whom I owed my life to and yet could never repay back because of Danzo. I don't care about your relation with that sensei of yours but I want nothing more to do with him."

"That wasn't his fault!' Naruto protested. "Kaka-sensei did everything he could with whatever he had."

"Then perhaps his best wasn't good enough," the youth snapped back. "For all his wisdom, power and talents, he couldn't even fullfill that promise of his. I'll never trust that man ever again but I give you my word that I'll never let anything happen to you on account of Minato and Kushina's behalf. It's high time I keep my promise to your deceased parents, Naruto."

Once the blonde was out of sight, the former Uchiha made his way slowly back to his room. Upping his sensing abilities and finding no hidden shinobi, he let out a soft sigh before moving towards his small bag of belongings. Reaching down to the backpack, behind a hidden apartment, he took out a small pendant, before going through a few handseals. The warmth that flowed back to his arm from the pendant confimred that it was still indeed working. Satisfied at the results, he replaced it back to its original position.

"Almost time to return you back to your rightful owner," Shisui whispered. "Don't worry Kushiha-san, I'll keep my promise to revive your clan. Something that Kakashi could never do..."

_The next day, Konoha, Ten O'clock..._

As dawn broke over the village of the Hidden Leaf, a single lone figure laid pearched on top of the Hokage summit, overlooking the vast scene that laid before him. The sunrise was always beautiful but the way the villages hurriedly scurried about their lives was worth more than any other scene in Naruto's eyes. Sighing at the fact that he might indeed be gone for an unknown amount of time, the blonde slowly took off his mask as he surveyed the little valley that laid in front of him once more, properly this time. Everything after the war had seemed like such a trivial matter following the reformation of the five villages and the elemental countries. Yet for all its urgency and brutality, the Fourth Shinobi World War was nothing compared to the events that had suddenly transpired over the last few weeks. Even his victory towards Sasuke was miniscule compared to the events that had, and were about to take place, the blonde thought wryly. If anything though, the Moonlight forces were going to make things a lot more interesting, seeing as his fight with them was as dangerous, if not more so, than the fight with the blasted Uchiha.

**Nervous Kit? A voice called from within**. The blonde sighed once more before shaking his head. There were a lot of emotions that were going through his mind right now but nervousness was not one of them. He knew the mission ahead was no doubt going to be one of the most demanding ones that he will ever take in his short life but somehow he wasn't afraid. No, once more, logic told him that fear wasn't something that should limit and cloud his vision. Rather, it was either an emotion you steer clear off as a shinobi, or, as the bijuus once commented, you make use off. A year or two ago, Naruto would have scoffed at that last remark but seeing as how he had not only relied on his fear but managed to draw upon it, listen to it and then overcome it, he now knew that the bijuus were right. The shinobi who is not afraid is not brave. Rather he was foolish, very foolish. The one, who is afraid, but who ignores the fear however, is reckless. The one who is afraid, acknowledges the danger but accepts it and yet overcomes his fear is courageous and it was this philosophy that Naruto was trying so hard to achieve. Being afraid was a normal thing but it a great mind to give fear a rational thought and from there, an ideal solution to a particular problem.

"What's happening to me?" he wondered aloud. "I need to stop this brooding. All this deep thinking is making me..._afraid_. It's like my thoughts...have thoughts?"

The bijuus remained silent at that. If he was going to brood and wonder about his newfound wisdom, then they were of similar mind. It was better this way, instead of their host finding out about the alternative, and true reason to his sudden insight on things. There was no telling how naruto was going to react, especially if it could prove fatal for him during the mission. Regardless, the bijuus were somewhat satified with this sudden progress. It seemed that Ashura's parasitic chakra wasn't so parasitic after all. Well, if you could actually call it that, seeing as it was the past generations of previous sucessors that was what led to the current situation and not Ashura's chakra alone, per se. It was extraodinary how the bijuus sudden perception of this has sudden change over the past few days; whereas before they were potentially worried for any horrible outcome, the 'merge' had done nothing but wonders for their young host. Whereas before he was rash, impulsive and quick to anger, Naruto now displayed a cool, calm demeanor and outlook on the situation at bay. He had not utter a single word of anger ever since and the bijuus were forced to reconsider their previous thoughts. Unknown to both bijuus and jinchuriki however, was the fact that his powers were only to keep growing from now on.

As a large shape began to emerge from the horizon, Naruto quickly got up, wondering what in the world could have led to such a massive size. What was more pressing however, was that it was heading towards his beloved village and worry turned to doubt as the shape made up several hundreds of armed samurai soldiers leading a carriage with the symbol of the Fire Lord as they continued their way to the Hidden Village. If this was what Mitsuo meant when he said he had an ace up his sleeve, the Uzumaki wondered just how high the Fire Lord placed their little guest, seeing as the most powerful man in the entire Fire Nation was paying him, a common merchant, a visit at such an early hour on his request. Not for the first time, the young anbu had that sinking feeling that a big event was about to happen. He also knew, that there was going to be a battle between two major heads and that he was going to be the centre of attention. Making his way down to the gates, he silently uttered a prayer that hopefully, things weren't going to lead to any casualties.

_At the village gates,_

Tsunade, Godaime Hokage and the only sanin to remain alive, was currently standing in front of the gates, seat pouring down her sides. It was never a good thing when the Fire Lord showed up without notice. Usually whenever he did this, it meant that he was displeased at their action and had personally come to give them a good scolding. What was worse this time round, however, was that he had actually brought his entire fleet of personalised guards, all three hundred of them. The Fire Nation was one that specialised in shinobi warfare but that didn't mean that the Fire Lord was foolish enough to overlook the fact that other nations would also be hiring shinobi to go after his life should the need arise. It was with this in mind that the daimyo had personally came up with an idea to raise an army that could effectively counteract such a threat. The result was just that; an army of dedicated armoured warriors that were specialised in combating ninjutsu, genjutsu and all other forms of shinobi arts. Samurai or not, these elite troupes had only one job; ensuring the safety of the Fire Lord's life and they would never hesitate to strike down anyone who dare go against his judgement.

While Tsunade had always question the need to raise such a army due to the amount of resoruces required to protect a single ruling family in the Fire Nation, she had to confess that it was an ingenius move on the Fire Lord's part. There were even rumours that several anbu units had been hunted down and rallied up by the daimyo's personal army on account of transgression and conspiracy by the other nations. Even her own units was somewhat afraid of what the new regiment of samurai were capable of; the troupe had been formed only five years prior and already they were leaving such a huge mark in the shinobi word. If the daimyo wanted to, he could effectively replaced the Land of Fire's shinobi system with his new samurai corps, seeing as they held more discplinary measures, as well as loyalty. However, the Fire Lord also knew of the importance of the shinobi system. While the shinobis did indeed have greater freedom and lesser constricts on their day to day actions, it was deemed a necessity seeing as concepts such as being duty-bound and honour would only restrcit the country's growth. That said however, the Fire Lord was already considering planning a separate unit, although without Tsunade's knowledge. Afterall, politicians needed a one-up in matters over their allies sometimes, seeing as you never know when your allies could turn on you...

As the army stopped in front of the gates, the front line parted, before revealing a single carriage, drawn by a single horse. Her forces tensing at the meeting, Tsunade gave the signal for them to stand down. It was only when the carriage curtain was unveiled and the image of the Fire Lord appeared that the shinobi forces finally relaxed. Relaxed or not however, there was still that same amount of tension in the air as one single question went through their mind: "What in the world could have caused the Fire Lord to suddenly round up an army of three hundred samurais to their village?"

Even Tsunade had to literally pinch herself to confirmed that she was indeed awake. It had seemed so surreal when her personal anbus had reported the image of sevral hundred armed troops suddenly appearing before the horizon and making their way towards the Hidden Leaf village. While Tsunade has brushed this off at first, the next statement that the troops carried the insignia of the Fire Lord made her reconsider her actions. It was then that she had immediately ordered every available units not on duty to file up in front of the gates, for the Fire Lord's arrival.

"Tsunade," the man in his late fourties to early fifties greeted as he appeared in front of her. How such a fickle and carefree man could suddenly adopt such a serious matter when the time called for it was well beyond the Hokage's judgement. Truth be told, the Godaime never liked the Fire Lord, seeing as they both had differing opinions on how best to run the village. Regardless of his personality or his own agendas, Tsunade had to admit that he was at the very least, a very capable leader and at the most a very dangerous man who could crush any party opposing him. Such a statement however, was also shared by the Fire Lord; Tsunade maybe the Hokage but what truly carried her authority was the fact that she was one of the few living descendants of the Senju clan, the most esteemed clan that helped founded Konohakagure as well as what led to the birth of the Fire Nation. Even until today, members of other nobility still held that clan in such high esteem and it wouldn't do to cross the Senju.

You might think that because of their opposing view of thoughts that they wouldn't be getting along with one another but you be wrong. Positions such as Hokage and Fire Lord were not for the petty and it was their ability to see past personal dislikes and to be above holding personal grudges, enemies or not, that finally led them to earn their current position. The title of Fire Daimyo might be inherited but like most of the clans, shinobi or not, clan head or clan heirs had to prove themselves worthy of the position. If not, it would go to someone else within the family. Besides, the two that were facing each other now had a mutual trust for one another and while they're personal relationship was far from perfect, their working one wasn't. Many times had the Firelord congratulate Tsunade on raising a generation full of successful and hope-inspiring ninjas but there were also times when he berated and criticised her actions; the case to leave Sasuke alone after the fourth war was one such example. Similarly, Tsunade had once told her advisers that while the Fire Lord might act like a senile, dense and silly old man, he has repeatedly shown himself to be far wiser than any of them. A fact that even the two elders, Koharu and Homura, had to grudgingly agree.

"My Lord," Tsunade greeted back. "I apologise for the lack of courtesy that we have shown you. Had I known that you were coming, I would have taken proper measures to welcome your arrival."

"Pleasantries aside, Tsunade," the elder man replied in a cold tone of voice. "I'm not here for talk. I'm here for an explanation."

"What...do you mean?" the Hokage asked. Before he could properly elaborate however, a lone samurai suddenly appeared in front of them via shushin, greatly alarming both side of the troops. The samurai, however, paid little attention to this, as he immediately protrasted himself before the Fire Lord.

"My greetings to the Fire Lord," he greeted. As members of his own troops began unsheathing their weapons and descending upon the blonde samurai, the daimyo raise up one hand, halting their movement.

"Ah, Takeishi-san, a pleasure to meet you again," the Fire Lord greeted, nodding towards the still prostrating figure. "Please, we have no need for such actions. My humble abode is yours. I trust Mitsuo-sama and the young mistress are fine?"

Tsunade glared at this. Even the Fire Lord had never treated her with such respect and courtesy before but this random person who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere? A second glance at the same figure and her heart fell; she knew who that samurai was. He was one of the few people that had came along with the Moonlight forces. So this was what Satoru meant when he said "consequences". Whatever happened next, she had to think up of a solution and fast, lest she find herself in the Fire Lord's less than favourable new light.

"Milord and milady apologised for the late greetings," Takeishi constinued. "Mitsuo-sama, however, wishes to confer his gratitude for your arrival at such a disagreeable time and at such short notice, no less."

"Think nothing of it," the Fire lord dismissed, waving a arm, and a feather fan in the other. "We are old friends afterall."

Then in an authoritative voice, he addressed Tsunade once more, "Tsunade, what is the meaning of this?! I have heard from my good friend, and diplomat of the Moonlight Kingdom that you have refused and cancelled a mission from them! No less failed, multiple times!"

Knew this was coming, the godaime grimaced. "My apologies, My Lord. We have been rather...short handed after the Fourth-World War and I'm doing the best I can with the manpower that I currently have. If anything, the failed attempts the previous times have only crippled our forces. I am sorry..."

"I don't want to hear your excuses," he snapped back at her, and earning an angry frown in return. "I know that you are not to be blamed for all those failed attempts and I am truly sorry for the lost of your forces but how dare you cancel a direct mission after you agreed to it?!"

"How dare I?!" Tsunade snarled. "How dare you! Do you know what these clients of mine put me through?! Do you know what they ask of me?!"

By this point, a huge amount of bloodlust had suddenly radiated from her and the Fire Lord raised an eye at her actions. Maybe he pushed her a bit too far, he reliased but then again he knew Tsunade was not one to get angry without a proper reason. Before he could comment any further however, a sudden blur followed by a flash of yellow light and a new figure appeared on the scene, who immediately held the Hokage in restraint.

"That's enough Ba-chan," the blonde anbu muttered, uttering his nickname for Tsunade for the first time in weeks. "It's okay. I'm here for you, you know?"

"Naruto..." she whispered. Shaking aside her anger, she turned to face the Fire Lord once more, "I don't know what these Moonlight soldiers have told you but I won't agree to their demands, My Lord. Even if you forced me too."

"This is a first," he uttered, as he glanced at Takeishi. "What ever could have caused you to ever decline a mission?"

"If you must know," Tsunade answered back evenly. "Ask our guest over there."

When the samurai turned to nod at the Fire Lord, he signalled for the samurai to come to his side. As Takeishi muttered the details of the mission parameters into the daimyo ears, his stoic face suddenly hardened into one of displeasure. So this was why Tsunade had disagreed on their little contract. Now that the facts have been cleared, he certainly saw her reasoning behind such an action.

"My apologies Takeishi-san," the Fire Lord said. "But I'm afraid I cannot allow you to take Uzumaki-sama away on such a trip given how weak the village still is and how important a role he plays should the other Kages demand an audience with my nation. He is a symbol of hope and peace, one that I dare not gamble on, no matter how important the relationship between our two countries."

"Hmm, thought you might see it that way," a new voice called out. As the shinobi cleared th way for the new arrivals, two veiled figures appeared before those who had gathered at the village gates. Like flies drawn to honey, Tsunade thought warily. It was no longer her battle. Now, it would be up to the Fire Lord to decide whether Naruto stays or goes on the mission. While she could no doubt press an argument, using her power as Hokage, it would be pointless if the Fire Lord disagrees seeing as he holds the greater sway in the country's council. Despite this however, Tsunade loathe her uselessness in such a situation. As Hokage, she had been anything but such and right now, she was being forced to watch the events unfolding before her as a spectator.

"Mitsuo," the Fire Lord called out. "Young mistress, I trust you are well?"

"Fit as a fiddle," he called back evenly, before turning to the figure next to him. A slight nod of the head and his attention was back on the daimyo. "I think we best discuss this alone..."

"I agreed," the Fire Lord said, gesturing to his carriage. "I have my retainers set up the barrier seals you so generously allowed me to keep. If anything, you should know how secured our conversatuon will be."

"Hai," Mitsuo answered before following the Fire Lord into the carriage, With Naruto, Hinata and Takeishi watching them. So it had begun...

_Inside the carriage_

"What is the meaning of this?!" the Fire daimyo demanded as he slammed his palm face down onto the floor of the carriage. "You said this was a simple matter of hiring an anbu unit. You didn't mention that we were talking about _him_?!"

"You didn't ask," Mistuo shrugged. For a moment, he let the information simmer, a small smile tugging at his lips as he enjoyed this short reprieve before getting serious once more. "Look, if it was anyone else who could guarantee my troops safety, I would have chosen another alternative but the fact remains _friend_, that Uzumaki-san is the only one capable of ensuring our success."

"And how do you know about that?" the Fire Lord asked. Mistuo held his glare as the next words came out from his mouth.

"Because the princess _has forseen_ it," he snapped back, earning s look of reproval from the Fire Lord. "Think of it this way, would you rather have the King declaring a personal vendetta against you if he finds out you had a personal hand in the safety of his daughter?"

"Blast if I care," the daimyo asnwered back but Mitsuo knew it was an idle threat. Nobody dared challenged King Sho's power when it came to personal matters. The King was well known for his loyalty and caring nature to the people of his country but more so for his ruthless nature whenever someone wrong those closest to him. "Besides, didn't the King banished the young mistress. What would be the point of him caring?"

"The point of him caring is the fact that _he was the one who requested this mission_, you old fart!" Mitsuo thundered and earning a nother look from the Fire Lord, though this time it was a horrified look. It wouldn't do to be on the King's blacklist, the daimyo knew but he wasn't going to let go of the massive power piece of the Fire Nation just like that. Naruto was more than a simple shinobi in the daimyo eyes, he was a key component in maintaining the current stability of the five nations and if he just suddenly disappeared, there would be anarchy and chaos.

"Surely there must be another way?' he pleaded back. "What about Kakashi? I h-"

"No," Mitsuo growled. "I won't have that man near the princess any longer with what he did the last time. It has to be Uzumaki-san or else."

"Are you threatening me, Mitsuo?" the daimyo answered back just as coldly. "I trust you know that my entire fleet of samurai are waiting outside. While I don't doubt Hinata-sama's forces, you are vastly underpowered in the fight."

"You're right in that," his counterpart mused stroking his beard once more. "The odds are truly unfair in this fight..."

"I''m glad you see it my way," the daimyo replied coolly. It looks like there was a way to settle this afterall. "Now-"

"I'm not done yet," Mistuo interuptted once more, holding up a hand to silence the Fire Lord. "As I was saying, the odds are indeed unfair in this fight..._For you_, that is."

"You've got to be kidding me. Do you honestly believe that your ten militia could actually compete with three hundred samurais and the entire force of Konoha, no less?"

"Oh? Well, let me remind you of one simple fact, dear friend. _Who was it that actually trained your samurais for you_? Have you forgotten that?" Mitsuo taunted.

"There are still the shinobis of Konoha," the Fire Lord growled, before being cut off by Mistuo's laughing.

"Oh, you truly are killing me," he chuckled. "The shinobis are no more of a threat to us. Need I remind you that we have _Maria_ on our team?"

At that the Fire Lord paled. That was one name he had dreaded to hear. Similar to both Mitsuo and Koharu, the Fire Lord had personally observed just what the team Medic was truly capable off. How such a kind, gentle girl, who pleaded against a match with one of her more foolish samurai guards, could reduce the same man to a shattered crying stature without so much as inflicting a single wound was beyond expectation. The daimyo had thought that Kiyoko would be the biggest threat in their little squad of ten soldiers but apparently he was very wrong, seeing as Kiyoko had hurriedly side-stepped away from the still shivering Maria as she came out of the arena, muttering things such as, "I told you...I didn't want to do it..."

"There must be another way," he begged this time round. "I can't just let you take Uzumaki-san away fro God knows how long! You know as well as I do, how important he is to the village."

"Then you also know that uzumaki-san hopes the village will be able to stand up on its own two feet without him," Mitsuo countered. "Listen, Naruto-san might be important but the village has to learn that he won't always be here to solve every little thing that happens to crop up. Besides, what he could do for both our countries is beneficial for the both of us. It'll make the Fire Nation a greater power that it already it, no doubt after such a costly effort o your part following the war."

"Very well, I agree," the daimyo said, defeated. "On one condition."

"Which is?"

"You have to ask his permission," the Fire Lord countered, hoping that the Uzumaki's loyalty and safety for the village would be the ace up his sleeve. If anything, he knew how much the blonde cared for the village and he hoped that Naruto wouldn't risk leaving the village in such a state just to leave on a mission.

"Done," Mitsuo answered, earning a look of surprise from the daimyo. "I see you expected something else?"

"More than that," he answered back angrily. "What you done to one of my most loyal subordinates?!"

"Peace friend," Mitsuo replied gently. "I had hoped not to be the one to tell you this but...it seems that as of late, your precious subordinate is rather displeased with the way certain people in the village have been treating him."

"The civilians?"

"Oh no, from what I've heard, they simply adore him and are extremely remorseful for what they put him through his childhood. If anything...its those shinobi friends of his that are causing him certain heartache," the man answered back darkly. "Especially a certain pink-haired girl if what Midori told me is correct."

"I see. Thank you for your disclosure on such a matter. I'm sorry that I couldn't convince you to reconsider you offer but what you said is indeed true, Mitsuo. The village needs to learn how to stand up for itself."

"Knew you see things my way," Mistuo grinned, to which the Fire Lord shivered.

"Hard to consider anything else with Maria on you side," he joked lightly, an statement that Mitsuo had to agreed. "Just...take care of him all right? I promised his father I watched over him."

"You have my word," Mistuo answered, as they both got up. "Now, shall we face the masses, friend?"

With that, both figure got out of the carriage and into the hot morning sun, into the eargerly awaiting faces of both the samurais and the shinobis.

* * *

><p>Chapter end.<p>

[Spoliers warning but read on if you want to contribute for the next chapter]

Diplomatic wars arc over! There'll be a short break, next chapter, with lots of action as the Daimyo requests a certain fight between our young , my question-which two people do you want him to fight?! Default will have him face the last two samurais but you can change that!

HOWEVER; regardless of popular demand and whatnot-HE WILL NOT FIGHT MARIA. I don't care what anyone says. I won't have him fight this one person, so there :p

[Spoiler ends]

Don't forget to review and comment. Also, if you want to add a jutsu, its not too late! Leave a remark in the reviews or PM if you have any ideas. Anyway, the actions begins next time!


	21. Chapter 21

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO**

**Author's Note: **Hi again guys and yay for more chapters! As promised, its been a few days but because no one commented on who the participants should be, I've decided to follow the default route. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy this chapter and stay awesome!

P.S. Still receiving ideas on jutsu if you have any but might not consider putting it in...

* * *

><p>Chapter 21: The Legacy of the Yellow Flash and the White Fang<p>

_With Mitsuo, the Fire Lord, Naruto and Tsunade,_

"I see..." the Godaime blurted out as the Fire Lord informed her of his decision. Knees wobbling at her superior's answer, she had to grab hold of the blonde anbu's arm to steady herself. It seemed that despite her best wishes and precautions, her foster son will be embarking on the mission afterall, although that was hardly surprising since she had a gut feeling on what the Fire Lord's decision was going to be anyways...

"As I said, Hokage-sama," the Fire Lord informed. "It would be to our best interest that our anbu agent over here follows through on this mission."

"I thank you, Fire Lord, Lady Hokage," Mitsuo answered casually. "Although we still have a few more hours to spare before noon. Perhaps, a little spar between two members of our respective mission will help put this little mishap behind us? A small amount of comaderie always seems to invoke the best between two parties, opposing or not."

I doubt that's his main reason, Naruto thought warily, as Tsunade remained silent and the Fire Lord considered this suggestion of his. Why Mitsuo wanted a battle he didn't know but one way or another, this simple merchant was going to have his way, seeing as he was able to cow even the most stubborn of people in the Fire Nation; the Fire Lord himself. Hopefully...it wouldn't be Naruto who would be doing the fighting anymore.

After a brief moment of hesitation, the Fire Lord shrugged. Either way, they had lost and from a perspective view; it wouldn't hurt to see just how far the Moonlight forces have come since he last met them. Afterall, know your enemy and know yourself, then you need not fear the outcome of a thousand battles. For Mitsuo however, this was going to be a show of power to ensure that the Hokage, or any other meddling shinobi for that matter, would not be pursuing them once the mission started. He had heard about this shadow organization called 'Root' from Shisui and the merchant didn't like it. Disbanded or not, some of the more stubborn members would most likely be hanging around and he wanted it drilled into their heads that they were not to be messed with.

"I don't see why not. Tsunade?"

The Godaime could only gestured weakly, her arm still latched on to Naruto as she led the way to their pavilion, where spectator matches were always performed. When no one was listening, the Fire Lord leaned himself forward to Tsunade, before proceeding in an extremely remorseful tone, "Between the two of us Tsunade, this wasn't what I wanted. I am sorry."

"Its nothing," she whispered back, barely containing the hopelessness in her situation. Then turning to Naruto, her tone changed to one of verocity, "Promise me you'll come back!"

"Of course, Ba-chan," he answered back heartily. "I haven't achieved my goal yet, you know. Do you think I'll just kneel over, before you do?"

Evn Tsunade had to let loose a small chuckle at that. It seemed that things were finally on the mend between the two of them. All she had to do now, was to put some of her faith in him. After everything her foster son had been through, he had deserved at least this much.

"Now there is something I wished to discuss with you," the Fire Lord interuptted, disrupting her happy mood. "There seems to be a few of your subordinates who have shown...disreputable conduct."

With that, Tsunade could only sigh. The rookies were not going to like this...

* * *

><p><em>At the pavilion that same morning,<em>

As a cheerful blue haired youth stood in the centre of the pavilion brandishing his sword, like a kid with his new found toy, Tsunade, Fifth Hokage of th Hidden Leaf village had yet found a worthy opponent for said man, from among her ranks. The rules set about by Mitsuo this time round were slightly different. While he had indeed arranged for a fight, the opponents his forces would be fighting with, this time would be chosen by Tsunade, as a act of good faith on the Moonlight's behalf. If Mitsuo had his way however, there would only be one person whose skills he actually wanted to scrutinize but caution told him otherwise. It wouldn't do if the Fire Lord saw his interest in the village's saviour as something else; fear perhaps, or maybe even desire. Pleasantries aside, this would be a very risky game he was playing and he needed to play his cards just right, less he leave himself open to attack from both sides. Afterall, the relationship between the two countries was already at an all time low...

As Tsunade scanned through her shinobi ranks, she could find no possible candidate against the easy going samurai on the battlefield. Oh granted, there were definitely those who were all too eager to show just what they were capable of; these were the fools. They had no idea just how powerful the Moonlight forces were seeing as shinobis always looked down on the capabilities of their sword wielding counterparts; the samurais. Perhaps that was true in most cases, seeing as samurai were bounded by a strict code of duty that the shinobis didn't have. Also, they were somewhat limited by their prohibition of learning jutsu but the Moonlight samurai were none of these. While they were indeed chained by the same honour code, they weren't restricted when jutsu was concerned. The more wary ninjas, Tsunade noted, and she was rather pleased and disturbed at the same time, were the anbus and the jounins.

Pleased because at the very least, the elites in the village were not as foolish as their more naive comrades. This, afterall, was why they were so desrving of their position. If a village's highest rank and most capable officers could not distinguish whether an enemy was dangerous or not, then the village had fallen onto a dark age and a very dark one at that. On the other hand, if the most capable and trusted officers were afraid, it just goes to show you how unprepared the village was for unexpected outcomes; this being one of them. If a samurai, no matter how trained, was indeed able to scare a shinobi, something was terribly wrong with the village's system. Perhaps the village had depended too much on their future Hokage...or perhaps, they had grown conceited and comfortable after the end of the fourth world war. Either way, arrogance was a dangerous issue for the military and Tsunade made a mental note to up their training, as well to revitalised her shinobi ranks. If ten people, ranging from teens to young adults, from the Moonlight Kingdom were able to instill this much fear in her already, how much more could an entire nation of them do? And that was discounting their more veteran and experience members of the Moonlight's military.

True, the Kingdom had never shown any form of aggresion but that didn't mean that they wouldn't one day and it was that particular thought that scared Tsunade to no end. However, that was going to be an issue for another day, as back on the pavilion, the young samurai in front of her had, so rudely, decided to adopt a more comfortable position with his eyes closed, earning hisses and jabs from the villagers of Konoha. The Godaime could only shake her head at this. If they knew just what this man was capable of, they would be doing as such. For a moment, she decided that perhaps, she should take care of this herself but just had the thought had barely manifested itself, a blur occured from next to her and the next thing anybody knew was that there were now two opponents of the battlefield; Naruto being the other one.

I should just quit while I still have the chance, Tsunade thought sourly. Seeing no other way, as the entire crowd of spectators had suddely cheered when the blonde arrived on the field, Tsunade reluctantly started the match.

"Begin!' she called out.

* * *

><p><em>With Naruto and Ryo<em>

"Huh..." the blue haired man, who appeared to be in his late twenties, yawned. "So it's you afterall, Naruto-kun."

The blonde teen merely lifted out a hand and tapped lightly onto his mask. Grinning, his opponent apologised. Back in the secret training ground, there was no harm in revealing who his identity was seeing as he was having to work with them and that they weren't going to be finding out who he was, sooner or later. In front of an audience of people however, this was not such a good idea. Naruto's identity as an anbu had to be preserved, seeing as he was, well technically an anbu. An anbu, who was by all means, only one in name only but still an anbu nonetheless. Besides, if the civilians found out how much harm he was going to inflict upon their favourtie villager, Ryo would no doubt be hard pressed in trying to find a suitable reason to calm down a village full of angry people.

"My apologies," Ryo replied. "Anyway, I'm known as Ryo, the Water Weaver."

No surprises there, the blonde anbu thought back. So far, he had tackled Fire, Earth and Lightning. Water however, was going to be just as much of a challenge seeing as he hadn't learnt to master its counter element; Earth just yet. With Fire and Wind under belt, Ryo would have a definite advantage over one of the elements currently unavailable to him. Just like before, this was not going to be an easy battle.

**"It's not the one with the strongest arm strength that pervails but rather the one with the strongest will," Kokuo whispered into his mind, voicing the bijuus support for their host. "We're here for you Naruto."**

I know, he thought back. Getting into his battle stance, he waited for his opponent to do so. As Ryo adjusted his stance slowly, there was a gradual change in both his attitude and focus. Once he was in position, there was a small frown across his face as he assessed the blonde before him. This person, Naruto noted, could kill. Whipping his sword through the air before bringing it down into a battle ready stance in front of the blonde, he called out, "Come at me."

The Uzumaki needed no second persuasion as he launched himself straight at Ryo, a blur faster than the eye could catch. A split second later, there was a nasty-sounding crunch and a figure lay crumbled onto the floor, a horrible trail of crumbled ground, reminiscent of the person's body shape trailing behind him. As the dust settled however, voices of concern could be heard from across the pavilian and even Tsunade gave a short gasp of surprise, for there laid in the depressed Earth, not Ryo but a very wounded looking Naruto, who was groaning his head off in pain.

"What in the...?" the blonde asked, dazed by the sudden twist. Spasm of pain ran through his body forcing his face into a grimaced as he willed himself to stand up. Expecting his opponent to take advantage of his weakened state, he found Ryo exactly where he was since the match started, a small blob of water around his right feet, with his sword still in hand. Flashes of memory ran through his mind as Naruto recalled the event; he had made a mad dash for the youth, hoping to catch him unaware with the Swift Release, yet somehow, his opponent had turned at the very last second before catching his balance in that water-lodged foot of his.

At first, he didn't know why Ryo would have encased his foot in such a manner, before feeling the unbearable pain going through his own feet. It was sprained, no doubting that. So that was why! the blonde thought. With enough force to shatter every bone in his body, this samurai had taken no chance in ensuring his safety. For the first time since the match started, Naruto felt respect for this care-free man. Like before, the samurais have proven themselves to be just as capable to hurting him as he to them.

**"Don't use the same tactic on those who already know it," a voice hissed inside his mind. "Listen, he knows all your moves prior this fight. You need to catch him unaware!"**

Kurama's right, Naruto thought to himself. The only problem was...how? Getting close would be disatrous seeing as Ryo's reach with the sword was greater than his with the arm. The Sleeping Dragon stance was also somewhat limited as well, seeing as he didn't actually know his opponent's pattern of attack. If only he had more speed...wait did he say, speed? A new idea pop up in his head as the throught flashed through his mind.

Kurama, get ready! Naruto thought, as he placed two fingers into a handseal, and summoning two shadow clones a second later. As balls of spiral energy formed in the clones' palms, Ryo tightened his hold on his sword, ready for any form of trickery that would take place. The next thing that happened however stunned him as the clones aimed their Rasengan directly into the ground, kicking up a dust storm and blocking the samurai's line of sight.

Upping his guard, Ryo faced the oncoming cloud dust. If the blonde was going to resort to trickey, then so be it; he was an expert in countering such matters. His caution was well warranted as a second later, a heard the rush of wind. Fearing the worst, he brought his sword up to the left and was met with an arm jarring force as blade and fist collided. The next thing he knew was multiple hisses of air rising around him, before experiencing jaw breaking agony from all around his body.

Deciding enough was enough, Ryo summoned pure water from the air around him before encasing himself in it. The blows weakened greatly as he did so and following that, a sense of relief washed through the blue-haired man. He might have recovered from his opponents last attack but Ryo knew that this was far from over. If he was going to succeed, he needed to take the battle to Naruto instead of focusing on defence only. Without so much as a second thought, the youth lauched his water encased body through the smoke, and into the open environment once more, welcoming the freedom of sight that greeted him. Dismissing the water shell around him, he tried to think of a possible line of attack. Right now, things were at a standstill; the young anbu was using the smoke about him as a way to turn the battle to his favour but without the smoke, Ryo would be able to retaliate. It looked like he would have to bait the teen out.

"Come out and face me!' the samurai goaded. A moment later, Naruto stepped right out of the smoke, his body as calm as can be.

Something's not right, Ryo thought. To just suddenly give up his position when he had an overwhelming advantage being hidden, could only mean one thing. As he came to the conclusion, dread filled Ryo's heart; the blonde was confident that whatever Ryo could dish out, he would no doubt be able to counteract it. Under normal circumstances, Ryo would have scoffed at such blatant arrogance but not now. He had personally seen what naruto was capable off and if he was showing such disrepect for his opponent's skills, he definitely had something in his sleeve. His worry turned to fear when the smoke parted to reveal four clones, each with a Rasenshurikens in their arms.

"Oh ****" was the last thing that Ryo said before each of the clones flung the four spiralling orbs into him. As the smoke cleared, the entire pavilian remained silent at the sudden display of power from the anbu. Among the more experience forces, they had correctly deduced who their mysterious fighter was. Only one person could have done that technique, and it shocked them just how much chakra he still had from the way he just brushed of the attack. The cheering of the crowds turned to one of cries, as Naruto turned to walked back up to the stands, only to be knock senseless by a sudden jet of water from the still downed Ryo.

His face a scowl once more, the blonde turned back to face the samurai. Ryo didn't dissapoint; his entire attire was reduced to nothing more than rags but in his eyes, there was a malicious gleam that wasn't there before. Water now flowed through his body like blood running down a used knife. That wasn't the terrifying part however; there was now a dragon-like silhoutte that encased the blue haired youth, with him lying at the epicentre of his technique. Unlike when Midori called forth her earth dragon, this one was smaller, roughly the size of a tall man. Ryo's 'summon' however, had both claws, wings and a tail. The creature gave a terrfying howl of defiance, earning even a look of horror from the blonde, before Ryo launched himself at the teen once more, all traces of restraint gone this time round.

_With the samurais,_

"I told you Naru-chan would pushed Ryo-san this far..." Hikaru muttered under her breath. Their leader might be a goof-up from time to time but never had the young teen ever seen him in such a state before. Even Takeishi looked horribly distressed at his friend sudden departure from sanity; Ryo no longer fought calmly anymore, rather he was fighting like a blood fuel berserker.

"We need to stop them!" Hanako whispered. "One of them could get killed!"

"We're having none of that," Mitsuo said sternly. "Need I remind you that Ryo gave the order that none of us are to interfere in this fight of his?"

"Mitsuo-sama is right," Shisui began. "Doing so will only bring nothing but dishonour and shame to his title as samurai."

_Back to the fight,  
><em>

So this is the famed Sage Mode, Ryo thought as he deflected yet another intercept from the blonde. Just how long is he able to keep this up?!

Presently both fighters were reaching yet another stalemate. Following Ryo's use of his trump card, Naruto had been hard pressed to find an opening in his opponent's new defense. It seemed taijutsu didn't work on that avatar shell of his. For Ryo however, things were not much different; instead on cultivating on the Hirashin jutsu, the blonde had proven that he had no qualms on utilising other techniques should he choose to do so. As he analyzed the situation, one thought kept cropping up...why wasn't the anbu using that famed jutsu of his instead of relying on Sage Mode?

Truth be told, there was no definite answer to it, if ever there was one however, it would be that the moment the battle had started, Naruto was not keen on prolonging the fight. He was still sore from the beatings from the previous day and no doubt, while he would be able to use the Hirashin jutsu to its fullest when he still haven't yet fully master how to implement the seal formula just yet, as he was still working out the mechanics behind it. Sage Mode combined with Swift release however had proven to be more than capable to irritate his opponent. Usually he wouldn't be doing this but after observing how Hikaru had managed to literally annoy the victory out of Kiba, he was dying to try it.

And unfortunately for Ryo, it seemed to be working seeing as his frustration only seemed to grow after countless attempt at the blonde's life only yielded failure after failure. Ryo also knew that he couldn't keep his current form for too long; maintaining it might provide him with an increased amount of offensive power but it also drained a lot of his vitality. He needed to end this fight and fast. Taking a chance, the head samurai channeled a huge portion of his available chakra into his dragon's maw, the orb gowling with an unearthly blue light as it gathered there. All too late, Naruto realised what he was about to do and had rushed forward in a futile attempt to stop him. As Ryo unleashed the pent up energy onto the centre of the field, Naruto could only watched helplessly, time slowing down as he did so. Unlike when Hanako did it previously, there was no water, this was was pure chakra, condensed into the form of a lethal beam; one that completely obliterated the field where the two opponents stood.

But the bijuus were ready, even when their host was not. Quick as a thought, Kurama formulaised a strategy out of the situation, detailing what the blonde should do and immediately urging him to do it. Hands weaving through the necesary seals, the blonde half-yelled, "Wind Style: Still Air!" The last thing anyone saw before the huge eruption that followed through, was a gust of swirling air before blue light erupted from the centre of the field.

Gasps and cries soon flew from the spectator's lips. Whereas the pavilion was only half filled with curious by standers initially, it was now filled full to the brim with civilians, curious as to the excitement taking place there. Fear raced through Shizune's heart when the smoke subsided once more, only for her to find the blue haired samurai there standing, protected from his own double-sided technique, at the very last moment with a dense shell of water. Desperately she searched for her foster brother but found traces of him.

On the field, however, Ryo dismissed his avatar before turning to face the sky, "You're a sharp one aren't you?"

A second later, a black figure landed with a dull thud, earning a greater amount of cheers from the spectators. I'm out of natural energy, Naruto thought warily. That last jutsu required him to pour every last shred of willpower and chakra so as to escape from the more devastating effects of the technique. that said however, he didn't escape totally unscathed either; half his anbu armour was blown clean off and his mask was a quarter destroyed. What was the worst however, was that he could no longer feel his right arm, a thought that worried him to no end; without it he was severely limited in what he could or could not utilised, jutsu-wise.

For a moment, both warriors glared ominously at one another and then...the unthinkable happened. Ryo smiled before proclaiming in a defeated tone, "You win this one, anbu-san..."

A second later, he collapsed striaght onto his knees before spilling blood from his mouth, as his coughs grew ever more intense. Reaching his limit, the youth could no longer find the strength to hold on and fainted on the spot, his body defeated and destroyed by his very own technique. Naruto gave a slight nod towards the fainted figure, his own body aching. He barely heard the cheers of the crowd and the call as Tsunade announced him as victor of the first round.

_With the Moonlight forces,_

"How?" Takeishi asked, as he and the remaining samurai stared awestruck at the way their head had so easily succumbed to the blonde's antics.

"This Uzumaki-san is more powerful than I thought..." Midori whispered.

"Not quite," a keen looking Ryota answered. "What our yound friend did, was just to escape Ryo's incoming attack."

"Then what happened?" Hanoko asked, only for the blonde Hikaru to gasped out in amazement.

"Ryo-kun...signed his own death warrant, didn't he Ryota-sama?" she gasped, earning looks of amazement from everyone around her.

"Precisely," the middle-age man continued. "You see little ones, when Ryo channeled all that raw energy, he didn't take into account that enormous backlash that would occur, especially considering the fact that he was at point blank distance from it..."

"Shisou always did say NEVER to do what Ryo-kun just did..."Hanako muttered horrified. Memories of what her master said still lingered in her mind. There were many things that the samurai were taught but more importanly than that were the warnings on what they shouldn't do. What the blue haired samurai did, was one of them. No doubt, the huge explosion of chakra collected at a definite point could literally obliterate an entire army of shinobis or samurais in a single second but there was a price to it; you paid your own funeral in doing so. It was only due to Ryo's ingenuity to cover himself with water that caused the majority of the blast to be absorbed by it. He survived, but with serious consequences. Although, even there was one question that the wisened Ryota couldn't answer; "Why would Ryo, samurai head, pour so much into a mock battle?" There was nothing to gain and nothing to lose, win or not. Besides, Ryo wasn't a particularly competitive person so far as they were concerned. It seemed that their blonde mercenary brought about a greater change in people than they could have hoped for...and it also seems that not all of these changes were good...

_At the spectator stands,_

"We still have time for one more match, Fire Lord," Mitsuo said, as Ryo was brought out of the field and a team of medics began treating the anbu's wounds.

"Hai..." the Fire Lord replied, his voice broken. Never had he anticipated just how powerful his friend's forces had become. Not for the first time, he congratulated himself for not getting on the bad side of the Moonlight nation. Still, that little to settle the fear he felt in his gut. If it took Naruto, hero of the Fourth War and the most powerful shinobi in Konoha to barely defeat just one of the Moonlight soldiers...what will it take if the nation decided to invade his beloved country?

I wish Sasuke was here, Tsunade thought. While the Godaime never really liked the raven-haired Uchiha's superiority complex, she also knew that despite his shortcomings, he was perhaps the only one, apart from Naruto, who could actually give the Moonlight soldiers a run from their money. Similarly, a lot of her shinobis had dreaded new looks that replaced their old ones and while she was grudgingly happy that the match had at least open a few of their eyes, she doubted that it would be to their benefit. Firstly, it just meant that nl one wanted to fight the next opponent. Secondly, because of this, her blonde subrodinate would no doubt put himself forward again seeing as he had done so in many occasions when it came to the village's safety and reputation. However, it worried her to no end that from the way her foster son stood there wobblying, it wasn't long before he would coolapse from fatigue as well.

As the next contestant stood up and made his way to the battlefield, Tsunade prayed that her foster son at least had the decency, or humility, to turn down this next fight. With his natural energy spent, Naruto himself, was no fool but his pride wouldn't let him just quit like that. If he was going to go down, then he would at least go down fighting. Fortunately for both him and Tsunade, Mitsuo signalled something towards the raven-haired Kiyoko. A sharp nod of the head from her, followed by a second later and she instantly appeared in front of Naruto and another raven-haired shinobi from the Moonlight forces. Before the blonde could even utter a single word of confusion, Kiyoko smartly rammed the blonde's head with the flat side of the kunai, before catching his unconscious form and shuhin away.

"What in the..?!" the Firelord began. Tsunade, on the other hand, was too dumbstruck to argue."What was that for?!"

"Your..._anbu_ will need all the rest he can get," Mitsuo replied back coolly. "Besides, from the way that last match went, even a fool could tell that he was in no shape for a second one."

"There more to this, isn't there?" Tsunade observed.

"It seems details do not escape you Gadaime-sama," their client mused, stroking his beard once more. "Well, there is one...Satoru-san over there would like to have a re-match with one of your more famous elite shinobis."

"I don't like where this is going..."

"You don't have to, Tsunade," the FireLord answered shakily. "It seems the legacy of Konoha's White Fang just made your decision for you..."

Don't do this Kakashi, Tsunade thought as he saw the jounin walking up to the battlefield. But...good luck, I suppose...

_Back at the pavilion,_

"Hmm, I don't usually like to train at such an early hour..." the white-haired jounin mummured as he stare boredly at his raven-haired counterpart.

"Save it," Satoru/Shisui replied, as he reached for his blade. Unlike before, where the tanto knife was located at his right thigh, the youth had re-positioned it to his back. "I'll end what you started two years ago..."

"You know why I did what I did," the jounin replied crestfallen. "I know you will never agree with my tactics, Satoru-san but I did what I thought was best for you troop and it was only because of me that everyone survived, including the princess...unothordox method or not."

"The time for words is over Kakashi," Shisui replied as Tsunade called out the signal for the start of the match. "If you want to prove your sincerity, then prove it with your blade!"

With that, the former anbu/shinobi of Konoha disappeared from sight. It was only due to the jounin's vast years of experience on the battlefield that allowed him to counteract the sharp downward slash from Shisui's blade. If only, barely. All traces of aloofness and remorse gone, Kakashi now held his ground with a newfound confidence and seriousness. If it was a fight Satoru wanted, then it was a fight he was going to get.

"I defeated you the last time Satoru," the jounin called out. "And I'll defeat you again."

"Fat chance," his opponent replied, re-appearing before him and delivering yet another strike which the jounin countered. "I only lost bcause I was exhausted. This time, I swear, it'll be different."

There was a sharp rise in chakra levels from the raven-haired youth that Kakashi could sense, before disappearing. What followed next ingrained itself forever into the jounin's mind; a sharp series of swings, backhands, thrusts, slashes and other series of advanced and complicated sword techniques that the Uchiha unleashed upon the jounin. If this was as much as Satoru could deliver, it would no doubt be easy for the jounin to gain an upperhand. Throughout his years of fighting, Kakashi had fought an incredible amount of kenjutsu masters, each with their vast array of skills and experience. However, that time was long gone seeing as he no longer had the Sharingan anymore. With a mojor cornerstone of his power lost, the jounin had indeed came up with other techniques to facilitate this handicap but even then it took time to incorporate and given the short tenure after the war, that was no enough for such a gradula change in fighting techniques. Still, Kakashi was a weasel when it came to direct combat and who ever said that you needed a new jutsu or technique to counteract a formidable opponent.

As Shisui finished excuting the technique, cutting through the torso of his opponent, the shocked figure of Kakashi suddenly vanished into thin air, leaving behind a wooden stump. A dark frown crossed the Uchiha as he realised what his former captain had just done. When it came to the three basic jutsus, Shisui knew that no one but Kakashi would have placed such an obscene amount of importance into their excution, refinement and implementation. He, himself had been forced to endure gruelling amount of training back in his anbu days under Kakashi. Well, two can play at this game, Shisui thought as he felt a sudden presence behind his back. Afterall, if Kakashi was a master at the Replacement Jutsu, then so was he, when it came to his moniker...

Anger will only dull your senses and blunt you blade, the jounin thought as he appeared behind Shisui and prepare to deal a quick knock-out move on the Moonlight ninja. Just as he was about to do so however, there was a sudden blur of movement and his hand passed through thin air, catching the jounin offguard and off-balance ad he staggered on the ground. A second later, there was a sharp slash of the air behind him, followed by an intense amount of pain on his back and a warm wetness flowing through the gash that the Uchiha had suddenly dealt.

"Sensei?!" the white-haired jounin called out shocked. No one, apart from three individuals that Kakashi knew was able to travel at such a speed. Foremost of them was his student, then the Raikage, A. Faster than the two of them however, was Minato. This didn't seem to make sense however as he knew his teacher to be long dead.

"Your sensei was a great man Kakashi but you...you couldn't even keep your promise to a dying comrade," the raven-haired youth mocked. Another sharp spike in chakra levels and the jounin realised what he was going to do. Only at the last second did he barely escape the incoming fireball that spew from Shisui's mouth. Unfortunately, he didn't escape unscatched; in his haste, the fireball caught the right side of his foot but that was a small price to pay. As the elite ninja countered with hand seals of his own, Shisui blew yet another fireball at the man, forcing him to abandon his action less he find himself incinerated. Now, both contestants were panting heavily from the excursions, with Shisui having spent a large amount of chakra on the last few jutsus and Kakashi having overexerted himself tring to evade said techniques.

"I've done many things I'm not proud of Satoru-san," Kakashi panted. "But who are you to judge me for what I did?"

"You don't have to know," the ninja answered back, before flashing through a nother set of handseals. "Fire Release: Great Fire Annihiliation!"

A huge wall of hot flames emerged from the Uchiha's mouth. Hoping that it would be quick enough, Kakashi weave through his own own set of counterseals before yelling, "Earth Release: Multiple Earth Formation Wall!" As fire met earth, both techniques struggling to gain an upper hand, the two elites pour even more chakra into their jutsu execution. If the leaf shinobi were paying close attention, however, they would have realised one thing; how in the world did a foreign shinobi, and a blind one at that, managed to excute a technique that was exclusive to the famed Uchiha clan? Granted, even Tsunade and the Firelord was too spellbound by the battle to take any notice but not Mitsuo. The older man was sweating bullets in case someone managed to make the connection and it seems like someone actually did. Back on the battlefield, a very shocked Kakashi was thinking among very similar lines.

I don't have time to ponder this! the jounin thought before weaving through another set of seals. As the ground turned soft around him, Kakashi release the Earth wall, letting the flames eat through the earth before vanishing underground. As the ground cheer at Shisui's seeming victory, the Uchiha could only frown once more. This seemed far too easy, he thought. Just as the thought crossed his mind, then the ground spilt before a sharp blow was dealt straight to his jaw. As he laid sprawled on the floor, his opponent, straightened his shoulders before heaving a sigh of relief, the cheering of the ground louder than ever before.

Should have known, Shisuit thought, rubbing his bruised jaw. Without giving a chance for Kakashi to retaliate, he shushin himself a safe distance away. The jounin kept his gaze ion the opponent as he readied himself once more. It was late morning now and given thier condition both of them wouldn't be able to last for any much longer.

"Let's end this, Satoru-san," the jounin called, channeling lightining into his right fist.

"For once I agree," Shisui replied, blowing flames onto his tanto knife. At the same time, both opponents rushed at each other once more, determined more than ever to beat the other. In the stands, spectators held their breath; which would win? Would it be the infamous lightning cutter or the flaming blade? As the timer counted down to the collision, everyone could only stare, eyes glued as both closed in even closer to one another. Three seconds...two seconds...one second...then an explosion, as fire met lightning. When the dust settled, one opponent stood tall with a clenched fist of blue chripping chakra in one hand while the other had a knee on the ground, his breath heavy and the blade no longer on fire.

"A devastating technique but I win this one, Satoru-san," Kakashi said, only for his eyes to widened suddenly as numerous cuts and spurts of blood occured through his entire body. His vision blurring, he asked one last question, "H-how...?"

The stadium was completely silent as Shisui sheathe his blade, before standing up, his oath to defeat the jounin fullfilled. "The fire was nothing more than a distraction...captain," he told the unconscious figure, before making his way towards the stand. As the crowd went wild with cheering, Shisui could only smile. The fire indeed was only for show but it had the desire effect; while Kakashi had focused his entire attention on it, Shusui had 'pulled' the blade away from the flame at the very last second before the collison and had dealth seven successive and lethal strikes with that short tanto blade of his across his ex-captain's body. Granted it wasn't a very fair fight as Kakashi didn't see it coming. In retrospect however, that was Kakashi's own fault. Without the Sharingan, the Lightning Cutter has one huge flaw; it gave its user a tunnel like vision and hence why he didn't see it.

No one's ever escape my Death In Seven Steps,Shisui thought as he exited the pavilion. Looks like it's time to start the journey...

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><p>Chapter end.<p>

With that, the break-arc is over. Next chapter will finally see Naruto head off with the soldiers. Also, we might catch a little glimpse of Sasuke with his new enemy. So review if you want a short cameo between the two fighting again.

Anyway, see you next time guys and don't forget to review!


	22. Chapter 22

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO**

**Author's Note: **Hi again guys and sorry for the late update. Been rather distracted lately; was trying to come up with new ideas on how to progress this story and some of them just didn't work out. Chapter wise, this story went a bit too long but I aim to rectify that a bit. Might have to re-write a few of the earlier chapters-oh well, we'll see how it goes.

Anyway, ON TO THE NEXT CHAPTER!

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><p>Chapter 22: Tailed beasts tell no tales<p>

_In Naruto's subconscious, present time..._

**"Something's not right with the kitten..." the two tails purred as she and her brethren watch over the unconscious form of their host. "His powers keep fluctuating from being extremely strong to pitifully weak."  
><strong>

**"Indeed," Gyuki replied. "It seems that the sudden merge of Asura's chakra has done more than wonders...but really, the question is how long will this last?"**

**"Good question, Gyuki," Kurama answered. "Unfortunately I don't have the answer to that."**

**"YOU DON'T KNOW?!" Shukaku howled. "How can the infamous ninetails not know of something like this?!"**

**"Do you then?" the fox replied back coolly. At that the tanuki kept quiet. "Regardless of the vast amount of knowledge that Grandpa rikudou bestow upon me Shukaku, I do not know everything. Besides...you were never willing to share me any scraps of secrets despite me outranking you."**

**"Blast if I care, stupid fox..." the tanuki muttered.**

**"Surely you must have a hypothesis or something don't you, Kurama?" the six tails asked, flustered. "Didn't the countless millenia of Indra's reincarnation cycle leave enough of an idea, a link or...something?!" **

**"No," the fox answered back hotly. "You see, despite being brothers...they are nothing alike. And this has never happened before in the history of the shinobi." **

**"True," Kokuo, the five tails mused. "Although the endless cycle between the Believer and the Accursed has already stopped, why did this have to happen?"**

**"We've entered a new age, Kokuo," Isobu whispered. "The Age of Inheritance is over now that the two successors have finally put aside their differences. Although the Accursed might not be such a good name anymore since the curse of hatred has finally been lifted."**

**"More pressing really are the Seeker and the Nurturer," Goku stated, earning wary looks from everyone around. "Ironic really that despite Grandpa Rikudou being the architect of the modern world, they were the ones who actually oversaw the plans and foundations to the shinobi world we now live in."**

**"True but Deva and Kinnara disappeared from history so very long ago," Matatabi objected. "Even we, the bijuus, were hard-pressed in ever finding them!"  
><strong>

**"You're right there, Matatabi but think about it...our place of roots? The very place where ninshu and then ninjutsu was born...Is it really coincidence that the place where we were banished from have become the single most powerful nation of the world?" Kurama asked. it was a hyphothetical question and the bijuus all knew the answer to it. However...there was one other thing that made little sense in the picture...**

**"I thought that _old man_ said that he wouldn't be playing a hand in the growth of the world ever since the endless cycle of hatred began?" Saiken asked, her tails twitching. "But I can smell his stench from these Moonlight Soldiers! If anything else, they reek of him, and very strongly so!" **

**"Exactly what I was thinking," Gyuki muttered worriedly. "He called himself the Watcher because of just that; to watch how humanity played out and not interfere in worldly affairs and yet...he actually broke his own rule. This must be why the Moonlight soldiers are so powerful."**

**"Hai," Kurama agreed, his face now a frown. "Even Grandpa Rikudou had a hard time persuading him otherwise and we all know how STUBORN he is."**

**"Perhaps now that the cycle has broken, the Watcher no longer sees fit to just watch?" Isobu cut it. Almost immediately all nine beast turned to stare at him like he was out of his mind. True, that was a definite possibility but it was a horrible one to consider.**

**"Maybe...maybe we shouldn't go," the two tails piqued, her head now on her paws as she laid down on the floor of Naruto's subconsciousness. There was a slight tremble through her body and the rest of the bijuus didn't blame her for it. Like the bakeneko, there were similar shivers running through everyone's spine. **

**"It's too late now Matatabi," Kurama explained gently. "I understand your concern, we all do but I think its high time we face him instead of running away with our tails between our legs."**

**"I'm not so sure about that," Goku countered. "You remember the last time the nine of us took him on."**

**"That was millenia ago and we've grown since then," Kurama insisted. "Besides, if we are to show ourselves as the role model that our jinchuriki deserves, then we should stand up to this!"**

**"Agreed," Saiken said. "It would be hypocrtical to do so otherwise. Soichi has always been taking our side of the burden, it's time we pay some of it back."**

**"Hai," the rest said in unison. Scared though the nine constructs of chakra were, they were in this together and this time it would be different. This time they were united in more ways than one. This time, they had something to fight for and their beloved host's life was at risk here. Whoever this Watcher was, they were not going to back down. Not anymore...**

_Present time, with Naruto,  
><em>

"Ow..." our young blonde groaned as he awoke from his slumber. For a moment, his blurry mind wondered where he was; there was a slight rumble outside the carriage he was currently residing in and it was rather dark. Two silthouttes were seated from across him. As his brain raced to recalled what had happened, one of the still figure suddenly reached out an arm and place it on his forehead.

The result was instantaneous; Naruto immediately yelled out before grabbing the owner of the arm and locking the person in a submissive position, before jumping outside of the carriage and into broad daylight. The response he got wasn't surprising, nor was it welcoming for that matter as five steel blades met him once he was outside the carriage, with five kunais lining each fatal position on his body.

"I'm going to say this once," a voice hissed into his ear. "Release the princess or I'll make you wish that the little nap I gave you would last an eternity."

At that, the blonde looked down and found that, in his sudden haste and adrenaline fulled state, he had grabbed the bluenette and was currently holding her in what seemed to be a hostage situation. Of course, he thought. The match had finished and the Moonlight soldiers must have gone on with the journey, dragging his unconscious state along. Quickly, he released his hold on her before muttering an apology. The line of samurai parted as Hinata meekly walked right back into the carriage, turning a wary look at her guards before flashing their blonde mercernary a sorry smile. Once she was in however, the shinobis relaxed but not the samurais. If we were to talk about the armoured units code of conduct, this would not be hardly surprisng. Then again, it seemed rather ironic that they were actually doing this to someone who they had actually hired to be in their platoon.

"That's enough," Mitsuo ordered as he stepped out of the carriage. "Ryo, this would be a good time to set up camp. Go about doing it."

Reluctantly, the samurais left one by one, although not before each of them gave their blonde anbu guard a specific reaction; Midori nodded, her face as stoic as ever, Hikaru winked, sending a shudder down Naruto's spine, Takeishi gave him a hard look before moving on, Ryo gave him a soft smile before letting loose a quiet laugh and surprisingly, Hanako gave him a shy and curious look. As for Naruto, he just sighed. This was going to be a long journey, he could tell and it had not started well. No doubt, most of his clinets would probably be holding him accountable for what he just did to the princess.

"I apologise Naruto-san," Mitsuo addressed as he unwrapped something from his pocket before giving it to the blonde. Worldessly, the anbu took the mask before putting it on. "We were rather hard-pressed to start our journey, so no, I don't blame you for what you did back then."

"It's fine Mitsuo-sama," the blonde replied, slightly shaken by this deep form of respect from the older man. Never before had any of his clients shown him such courtesy and sadly, neither did the rookies but he pushed that thought out of his mind. "Where are we, if you don't mind me asking?"

"A little south of Konoha," Mitsuo answered. "Give or take an hour's walk from the village. If I may, Hokage-sama told me to inform you to keep your mask on, at all times, if possible. Apparently, it wouldn't do if the other elemental countries found out you were on a mission..."

"Hai," he answered back. "It could lead to either a diplomatic disaster or worse...a bloodbath."

"Shisui's prepared lunch for us all, Naruto," Mitsuo addressed once more. "Could you give him a hand? He's been requesting your presence ever since our journey began."

"Sure...just don't knock me out like that again." With that, the anbu vanished in a blur, leaving the older man slighty stunned by his antics. Head shaking, he made his way back to the carriage, so as to better reprimand his foster daughter on her absurd behaviour earlier on.

"You shouldn't have done that," he scolded her firmly once he was in the carriage once more. "Heaven knows what your father would have done to me if anything ever happened to you! or worse your brother, Hinata-chan."

"I'm s-sorry," the bluenette apologised. "It's j-just th-that Naruto-kun s-seemed to be s-such in pain..."

"He's a shinobi Hina-chan," the older man said once more, although there was now a slight hint of doubt and wariness in his voice. "You better not be too close to him. Afterall, he is but a mercernary."

"I d-don't really c-care for that," the bluenette whispered back softly. "Jinchuriki or not, m-mercernary or not...he's the kindest m-man I've ever met."

"Regardless, my warning still stands _princess_," Mitsuo answered, this time earning a sharp glare from the young teen. "We are not supposed to form any form of connection with those of elemental countries. It is as your father once said, the Moonlight kingdom and the elemental nations will forever be enemies."

"B-but we can ch-change, right?" she pleaded. "Ryota-san s-said we've entered a n-new age now, surely th-this heralds a new f-form of judgement and thinking?"

"A new age for them, perhaps but not for us I'm afraid," the man replied once more, his voice heavy. "You have to understand Hina-chan, that our kingdom follows a strict protocol when it comes to such matters and it was only through countless centuries that we've managed to reach the point we are now. Of course, like many other empires, we are forever evolving but what the other nations do has nothing to do with us."

"It m-must be painful to be i-isolated from the rest of the world," she wondered, to which her foster fasther could only nod. Once more, the princess wished there was something she could do but it was no longer under her control. When she lost her high position a decade ago, she also lost all the preveliges that came with it. Her title was just that; a title. Perhaps her brother would listen to her but even she doubted it as she knew how much her brother hated the elemental nations.

"Indeed but my warning still stands. I don't know where this new found form of fondness of yours for Uzumaki-san comes from but don't get too close to him."

At that, the bluenette could only nod back in response. It's because he's the first person to ever treat me like a person and not an object that I look up to him as such, she thought but she wasn't going to tell the merchant just yet. He, like the rest of her guards, hold conflicting emotions regrading their young anbu friend and she wasn't going to push her luck by tilting the balance. Not doubt, it would only add more fuel to the fire...

_With Shisui and Naruto,_

"Ah Naruto-san," the former ninja of Konoha greeted as the blonde appeared behind him. "I had hoped you would come."

"How did you know it was me?"

"You see the world differently when you don't have eyes anymore," Shisui laughed softly. "It's an interesting experience to say the least really. Hungry?"

"A bit," Naruto answered back. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't eaten since seven hours ago and that excursion and brief scuffle with the head samurai left him very drained as a result. If anything, the huge pot of stew which the Uchiha was cooking seemed extremely good, even though it looked and smelt extremely bad. Wordlessly, Shisui filled a bowl up for him and passed it up to his young comrade.

"Thank you," the teen replied. Once the stew slipped through his mouth however, he realised that looks were definitely deceiving; this was one those times where something looks extremely bad, smelt horrendous and yet, tasted unbelivably good. "What's in this?"

"Oh a bit of chicken, fish, etc etc etc," the Uchiha shrugged. Shisui might not look the part of a famous cook but surprisingly his dishes were the best out of his platoon. What was really surprising however was that he didn't make anything other than stews and soups. Even then, and this was the funny part, he just threw ingredients in one after another while preparing for dinner without considering their quantity or measurements. Despite this, the outcome always turned out amazing, so amazing in fact that once Hikaru teased him about it, "how can a blind man make such good food without being able to tell the difference between a carrot and a turnip?"

"So...you wanted to see me?" the blonde asked, to which the raven haired youth nodded once. "What is it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

"First of all Naruto, I implore you to be careful around the troops," Shisui warned him in a low tone. "While you have no doubt earned our respect, most of us don't actually consider you an ally and much less a friend, for that matter."

"It's okay," he answered back. "Its just that our goals are the same this time round."

"Exactly, we're more like allies by necessity rather than true allies," Shisui explained. "However, be that as it may, some of us have taken quite a shine to you. Me, Hikaru and even the princess it seems."

"Why are you telling me this?" he asked once more. This time, the Uchiha turned round to properly face him.

"Its because I know you're risk your very life to save each one of us. Its something that runs in your blood but the same can't be said for us," Shisui continued. "Well, I might but I'm not so sure if the others would care if you met some unfortunate demise."

A slight chill went through the blonde's spine as he heard that. "Is that why so many jounins failed previously?"

"Partially," Shisui admitted. "You see, the life of one of our own does not equate to yours. In fact, if you die, not one would so much as bat an eyelash. Truth be told, Kiyoko even killed a couple of the jounins sent to us previously..."

"What's her problem?"

"Beats me," the Uchiha shrugged once more. "Then again, she killed those two jounins because their injuries were too severe. In her own sense, it was done out of mercy."

"I don-" the blonde began when Shisui cut him off.

"Its because my group _didn't bother to protect the previous shinobis_ sent to escort us that eventually led to their demise," Shisui explained once more, earning a look of understanding from the blonde. "If you want to earn our trust Naruto, you first need to show that you are trustwothy. Once you achieve that, then its a short step away before we'll sacrifice anything for you."

"**Wise word, brat,**" a deep voice called.

"Kyuubi," the youth spat. "I had hoped we would meet sometime soon but this is too early even for my taste."

"**I see time has not pacify that idotic arrogance that you Uchihas hold so highly,**" Kurama mocked. "**You best watch your words. You no longer hold the Mangekyou Sharingan anymore."**

"I have nothing to say to you ninetails," he countered back smoothly. "But know this; there are far worse things that I can do to you besides the power of my Magekyou."

"**Touche**," the ninetails replied. "**I just wanted to make sure we are on even footing here. You say that your people won't do anything to protect the life of my host but be forewarned. If anything happens, I will personally hunt each and everyone of you down.**"

"I bear that in mind," the Uchiha taunted. Granted, Kurama was a very big threat but Shiui was not in the least afraid of the ninetails. He had once personally went up with the ninetails and had lived to tell the tale, although few know about his exploits. However, that was a long time ago and while he had indeed lost a vast part of his power, he had compensated for it via other means. "If you're done, I like to talk to Naruto."

"Oww. Damnit Kurama," the blonde hissed as he regained control. "Sorry about that."

"Think nothing of it," he brushed. "The ninetails always was a nuisance to deal with but...he does seem to care for you and in a genuine way."

"Its a long story Shisui," Naruto sighed. "But yes, we've put aside our differences. Although, my bijuu seems to know you?"

"That's a long story as well," Shisui smirked. "However, if you're able to convince the ninetails then I trust that you'll be able to win the heart of my comrades."

"I'll try."

"I know you will, but enough of this Naruto," Shisui began once more. "I've got a little gift for you. Come out, Hanako."

There was a slight rustling of the bushes behind them before the red haired samurai of the group appeared in front of them. Unlike the way she had greeted Naruto however, this time she did a small bow before him before looking away, a slight blush on her face. A small frown crossed the blonde's face, of which he was grateful of his mask hiding it. He knew Hikaru was the one who should be acting as such but fierce, fiery Hanako? Something wasn't right...A second later, Shisui pulled out a necklace with what appeared to be a crest of the Uzumaki clan at the end.

"I promised your mother once that I would helped rebuild your clan, Naruto," Shisui told him. "I will still keep that promise but I don't think I should be the one to head this mission anymore. You are the heir to the Uzumaki clan afterall and Kushina would have wanted you to keep the pendant she made. It was, afterall, a keepsake she entrusted me to give you when the time comes. Now, I think, is that time."

"Okay, but where does Hanako come into this?" he asked cautiously, earning looks of irritation from the rest of the bijuus. Even Shisui gave him a wry smile at that.

"Touch the pendant Naruto-san...onegai," Hanako announced suddenly. Slowly, he did so and as he reached out a finger to touch the pendant, there was a blue swirl of chakra that flowed straight from the pendant and, to his surprise, towards Hanako. This link confirmed, Shisui dismissed the jutsu before handing it towards Naruto.

"Take it," he comanded. "It's yours and from what we've just seen, that was a perfect demonstration of how to identify members of your lost clan."

"Wait! Are you telling me that...?!"

Instead of a verbal response, Shisui merely grinned. "I'll leave you two for some catching up. Afterall, it wouldn't do to have another clan member in on the secret of another clan now, would it?"

There was total silence as Shisui left, both teens shocked by this sudden revelation. For Hanako, the raven haired youth had informed her of the possibility of a descendant of her long lost clan but never before would she have imagined that it would be the very person that they had hired to escort the princess back. Similarly for Naruto, he had never bothered to entertained the idea that a member of his clan would be right under his nose this entire time. It was rather unnerving to say the least.

"So...I guess that makes us cousins?" Naruto laughed slowly, trying to distill the tension that had suddenly built up following the revelation. This failed though as the samurai gave him a rather curious glance instead of returning his laugh.

"I...never had a cousin before..." Hanako muttered. Another silence followed as they both reconsidered this statement.

"Nor have I..." the blonde agreed. "Why didn't you tell me you were from the Uzumaki clan? We have the same clan name afterall."

This time, Hanako hesitated. "I never knew the name of my clan...nor my last name for that matter. It was a long time ago, Naruto-san. So long in fact, that even I had forgotten everything my grandmother had told me about the clan or its custom and members."

"Well, what matters now is that I found a member of my clan," he continued. "Will you help me rebuilt our clan, Hanako-san?"

"No," she replied firmly. Then seeing the way his shoulders sagged, she pressed on in a much more mallow tone, "I mean not yet, Naruto-san. I don't know if I can trust you or not. Clan heir or not, unless you prove worthy to earn my trust, I will not follow any of your orders."

"I understand but maybe we can begin somewhere?" he asked.

"Well, I always wanted to know about our clan...could you tell me more?"

At that, the blonde smiled, "What I know is only from the scrolls that my mother left me but I'll be happy too."

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><p>Chapter end<p>

What about the rookies and Sasuke?! Find out next time!

Don't forget to review!


	23. Chapter 23

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO**

**Author's note: **Hi again guys. I've just recently got a spark and I thought I might as well get on with it while I had free time and the idea still fresh in my mind. Anyway, again, there's not much for me to say here except I hope you all love this chapter as much as fun as it was for me to write.

**For ShadouRyu-kun: **In terms of inspirations, I'm not sure really. Sometimes I just sit down and the words just flow but I have a vivid imagination that I can only attribute to three things; fantasy/adventure novels, lots of gaming and a lot of manga reading. Biggest affect though is probably gaming; I play a lot of games of the action RPG genre, mostly Japanese. Japan games focus more on the plot of the story and definitely had a huge impact on my life while I was growing up. It also had a huge effect on my imagination, I can tell you that. In terms of books, I recommend the Ranger's apprentice series-those were where I got inspiration on themes of my characters going off on adventure and perhaps China's Famous Four classical novels; I especially loved romance of the three kingdoms. XD

Anyway, I think I've digress quite enough, so NO TO THE NEXT CHAPTER!

Just a bit of a warning; this week chapter(s) will be focusing more on the lore of the Moonlight Kingdom. Slowly at first then gradually over time. It'll tell the story of what actually happen but not all at once, with actions and drama laced in between. The suspense of actually knowing what happens will probably kill you but that's my intention :P I will only elaborate more on the past once each action/drama section finishes. Probably one chapter of history lessons followed by five chapters of honest to goodness fighting more or less. Anyway, this will be a trail and error chapter since chapter 23will be the first to test out the audience's, YOU, reaction on the Moonlight Kingdom's mythos. As always, reviews/critics are all welcome BUT NO FLAMES-respect other people's feelings and comment or get out of my story.

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><p>Chapter 23: Forgotten tales of the Believer<p>

_At the campfire with Ryota,_

Dinner might have been a simple meal of stew, the huddled figure by the campfire thought, as he buried his nose onto a rather large book while puffing away at a rather larger pipe. But it was a delicious one at that. Then again, few could ever contest to his former apprentice's skills when it came to cooking. As the man read through another section of the book, a contended sigh escape from his lips. This was what life should be about, the bibliophile thought. A nice comfortable fire to keep you warm throughout the night, in a serene and graceful atmosphere about you, a nice warm and full belly and of course, a thick book in which you could lose yourself to. It was at times like this that Ryota could never really understand the bloodthristy nature of his fellow comrades and likewise them to him. For the Moonlight milita, wisdom was just as important as combat smarts but catching up on subjects of philosophy, medicine, history and culture? That was not in their area. They were soldiers and soldiers were trained in but one thing; excelling in combat; short, simple and straight to the point.

A sudden noise arose to the right of the middle age man and without even turning to look behind him, he called out in an almost bored fashion, "Don't even think about it, Naruto-san."

A second later, the blonde hair anbu did indeed step out to greet him, a somewhat sheepish smile on his unmask face. As the later sat himself down by the log directly opposite the veteran's line of sight, Naruto could only reply, "It's not easy to catch a tracker unaware."

"Well, you're not the first, anbu-san," Ryota answered him, eyes still glued straight onto the book. "Best to keep your face mask, my young friend. But it seems you have another reason for being here...I presume you were looking for me?"

"Hai," the blonde said. "We're on watch duty today. Shouldn't we patrol around the area instead of just sitting by the campfire?"

"Not so," his aloof friend continued. "I've set up seals about the place. We don't need to do anything, so much as relax by the campfire. Ah...I know that expression on your face, Naruto-san. Do not fret, these seals are_ my design_, no doubt, enemy shinobi will be hard-pressed to counteract them."

"They could still break them," he protested, wondering the true extent of the older man's abilities. Like before, he was feeling a bit uncomfortable with his new clients although right now, his mind was a bit of a mess due to the sudden revelation that Hanako was actually his long lost cousin, or at the very least clan member of their currently non-existent clan. While he had indeed thank Shisui for his rather unexpected gift, he was still slightly unsure as to how he should have reacted and hence why he was currently rather fidgety with Ryota. Of all the Moonlight soldiers, Ryota was by no means the most dangerous, the blonde thought. That honour went to Maria. Why such a thought bothered him when the rest of the soldiers displayed nothing but fondness to Maria was probably due to one simple thing; it happened a few hours back ago but when Maria gently administered some herbal remedy onto his wounds sustained from the previous fights, he could feel inner turmoil from the bijuus within him and no matter how much he demanded that they informed him on what they were actually thinking, they had remained tight-lipped about it.

Why the bijuus would be feeling negative emotions, and surprisingly fear, at such a kind gentle soul was beyond him but it defintely made him aware of the fact how unprepared he was for the mission at stake. It was then that he decided, that if they were indeed going to make this mission a success, like Shisui had told him, then he needed to earn their trust and respect, hence why he was with Ryota now. What better way to instill comradeship than to try to be friends with your allies? That said however, yes, Ryota wasn't perhaps the most dangerous out of the group but he was the most respected and the oldest among the elite troup of gifted youths. That and the fact that he was also the most mysterious made the blonde teen all the more curious as to who he actually was, although to be frank, that extended to all the Moonlight people.

"True," Ryota answered back neutrally. "They could break the seal but it would cause them a huge amount of pain and a lot of noise, by which time, we would have been alerted by it and would have been more than ready to deal with them."

"What...are you reading?" he asked back, not sure how to answer the veteran, who by now was showing more and more disinterest at him.

" A book" Even his answers were getting shorter. Going for a new angle, Naruto decided to take it straight to the matter at hand.

"Ryota-san," he addressed. This time, Ryota actually looked up from his book to stare at with with an inquiring look. Good, at the very least, he had gotten the older man attention. "I want to know everything. The Moonlight Kingdom..."

Ryota sighed at that, before slamming the book with a dull 'thud'. The matter would have been brought up sooner or later, he thought warily, although when Shisui informed him as such, he didn't suspect it would have been this early. As he looked up at the curious young face before him however, a small warmth spreath through his heart; Konoha Shinobi or not, Naruto reminded him so much of young Shisui when he first rescued him all those years ago. So full of hope, energy and will to prove themselves. However, a part of him warrant caution against such an action. It wouldn't do to just willingly give away classified information but something about Naruto's body language told him that the young teen wasn't interested in the kingdom's military so much as he was in its a brief moment, he shrugged, if anything, Naruto deserved to hear his descendant's account of how the kingdom was founded. It was afterall, his birthright as the Uzumaki heir.

"I can't tell you the kingdom's closely guarded secrets, Naruto-san," Mitsuo began, holding up a finger to stop the incoming flow of questions from the blonde teen. "But I can tell you it's history..."

"Please do," he begged. By now, everyone else was asleep and the fire was glowing with an almost eerie looking light as he looked at the older man's face through the slits on his anbu mask. When Ryota nodded once, the blonde summoned a shadow clone before ordering it to patrol around the perimeter. That done, Ryota weaved through a few hand seals, trapping the blonde in a light genjutsu.

"Better yet, let me show you," he told the surprised blonde. "Don't worry, the genjutsu is harmless but bear in mind that this is not the full acoount on the founding of the Moonlight Kingdom. Instead, it's told told through the author of the book, whose images you will see or rather hear; well it's actually hard for me to explain. Best way to describe it would be akin to reading the book itself."

"Well, on with it!"

"Young people today," Ryota sighed. "I suppose you don't even want to know the title of the book?"

"On with it!" he nearly shouted and early a very disgusted scowl from Ryota. Looks aside, he and Shisui were exactly the same. Without further distractions, Ryota began with the elusive history of the isolated little kingdom that so many had tried to find but failed...

_Story begins_

_Long ago when the world was young, when men knew nothing but greed in its heart, there was but nothing but untold destruction and choas. This was the first age of humanity. What I call the "Age of Greed". Mankind, fueled by its everlasting lust for power, resources and wealth waged war against each other, one after another. The Age of Greed was long and vast, its reached stretched for miles and everyone was spellbound by its power. No one knows what actually happened that led to this age or what happened before but even verbal accounts of those who lived through this age said that there was a time when humanity learnt to lived in harmony with another and with nature. Yet, all was lost because greed, that undeniable, insatiable greed, consumed humanity. Even the Heavens themselves withdraw their support in nurturing the young race of mankind who they were responsible for the inception of humanity and everything else that followed through. _

_It is an undeniable fact that humans are capable of great things both marvelous...and horrible. Perhaps this was why even the angels themselves laugh as we do when we accomplish impossible things for the greater good of mankind and weep when we choose evil over right. Regardless, during this age, this accursed age of violence, there was neither a single sign of light to end the dark days...nor a single ray of hope for the future. Millions died because of the desire of the selfish few and mothers, father, family-all ripped apart just because some wanted to be better than others. For all intent and purposes, it seemed that humanity had forgotten its divine purpose as the inherited protectors of the Earth and rather than protecting it, were doing nothing but destroying it and all others who would stand in their way._

_My father called this the age where dreams were crushed but I called it another. I called it the age of the damned. What beast could have sent a mere child, no more than five years in life to fight for what his master calls justice? What justice was there to fight for when the future was littered with nothing but corpses and the many suffering in hunger, pain and misery while the few who benefited from it ravishes in the abundace of excesses? Countless millenia passed and were I to be born then, I too, would have given up hope despite what my followers called me now, the Believer, the one who believes for a brighter future._

_It was an unfathomable age and yet only grew worse with each passing day, that is until a certain person finally came along. For ill or for good, her actions later paved the way for a new age but it is true that the Rabbit Goddess was greatly fear and respected by all who lived through her rule. With power that no one could ever hope to have, Kaguya took the forbidden fruit from the world tree, a tree nurtured by the blood and rage of humanity, and ate of it. The tree, I believed, while not inherently malevolent, was the cause of all this trouble, although my dear now estranged brother would have disagreed. Yet, despite it all, perhaps we should have thank the tree for it was what later paved the way for the golden Age of hope that was to follow soon. _

_Before the age of hope however, there came a darker age. The Age of Kaguya, most of which the people now call, the Age of Darkness. At first a benevolent leader, the clan head of the Otsutsuki clan tried to negotiate with mankind, showing them that with the power she had attained, humanity would no longer had to fight for ever scrap of resources that there was. But for all her power, humans were far too stupid to appreciate such gifts. Seeing her power only made Kaguya a weapon that most would sought after and when it became apparent that she couldn't be stopped; a threat. They called her a monster, and endlessly harrassed members of my beloved clan. Accounts later differ from this point on as many of the Otsutsuki clan members argued on what Kaguya actually did; some said that she had became drunk with her new found power but others argued that she was only defending herself. Whatever the clan says however, was irrevelant as there was only one outcome at the end of the day.  
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_Digusted, reviled and angered at what humanity had done, Kaguya Otsutsuki, decided to take matters into her own hands. If people were to blind to see for themselves who the real mosters, hen she would show them...by being the very monster that humanity had become. With power that nobody could ever imagine, she took the lives that a war could have reap in ten years, in a single day. And thus began the Age of Darkness...those who opposed her will perished. People had but two choices; surrender or die. It was a dark age because despite being finally united under a single rule, the Rabbit Goddess enforced harsh punishment upon everyone on account of her suffering that the humans had caused her. That plus her growing paranoia that the people would eventually pursue the same power Kaguya had finally convinced her that humanity could not be trusted._

_It was then and there that the Infinite Tsukyoumi was finally initated. As Kaguya peered through the dreams of each of her victims, she realised that she was right in her regards. Many dreamt of her dying, a demon not wanted on this Earth. Other dreamt of obtaining her power, chaining her to their will...nothing more than a mere weapon. It was because of this that she finally lost hope in humanity and apart from the Otsutsuki clan, decided to trap man forever in this neverending dream like state. The Age of Darkness was shortlived however, when two new successors were finally born; Hagoromo and Hamura._

_Initally when the two were born, there was a great joy for celebration but when their mother found out that they had inherited chakra, she became mad with rage. A rage, so deep that even the closest of her clan members tried, but could not subdue. Worse still was that, in her blind rage, she killed each and every single one of her loyal subordinates who chose to oppose her in her plan of reclaiming her chakra. By then Kaguya had realised her mistake only too late; in killing her fellow clansman, they no longer held her as a saviour but now as a demon. Long ago she had promised to release mankind from their eternal slumber but her actions now proved otherwise. Dejected and abandoned, Kaguya left the clan, a self-imposed exile with but one last aim on life. Her clan might no longer trust her but she would then rule them with fear if necessary. However, before that became a reality, she needed to remove the chakra from her two sons. _

_The simplest way would be to kill them but even with the last shred of humanity gone from her now greed-filled heart, she could not bear to kill her two children. There were, afterall, a part of her; flesh, blood and bone. Instead, she would use the World Tree to siphon away their chakra, crippling them but not taking away their lives. An act that no doubt left her satisfied. But fate was not to be on her side this time. This time, others chose to stand up to her. For the Otsuysuki clan, things had came to a halt, either they stood up to her or face annihilation. It was because of the sins of their exalted leader that the clan members crafted a plan to hide the young boys, a selected few were chosen to guard the two and because of the power that they now possesed, everything depended on them._

_When Kaguya found out, it was too late. Her clansman, full of guilt, at allowing things to become the way they were, sacrificed their lives in order to keep the two boys safe. What followed next was an era of untold destruction. Kaguya, in her tree form laid destruction upon destruction trying to find her two sons but all in vain. Oceans were drained, land destroyed but still she could not find them. It was only after twenty five years that she finally succeded in doing so. Ironically the next time she saw her two sons, would be her last._

_Young Hagoromo was raised alongside his brother Hamura but brought up by a very strict and kind old man. The old man watched over them, and nurtured them, seeing how they went from young boys to fine adults as they learnt to harness their inherited power. Yet, despite wanting to see the end to age of darkness, the old man was at his life's end when the boys were but twelve years of age. With his dying breath, he told the two the secret of their great strength and with it, the enormous budren that they now carry. When the boys found out, doubt filled their minds and fear raced through their hearts, their faces wet with tears, as they cried out in desperation. But the old man smile. He believed that they could atone for the mistake of his clan and having said so, he left the word. His final words being, "Whatever happens, I will always be proud of you, my sons."_

_Their guardian now gone, the boys swore to end the dark age and they trained endlessly to find a way to trap the Juubi. When the time finally came, Hagoromo, young, wise and full of will stood with his brother, Hamura, courageous, intelligent and eager for the future, finally stood together to face thier mother. Nobody knows how they must have felt when the deed was done but it must have been painful. In their heart of hearts, both men were kind and compassionate and despite never having met their mother, they loved the women who gave them life but the duty must be fullfilled. Kaguya had inflicted a terrible sin and it was up to them to rectify it. _

_In a titanic struggle for supremacy that lasted for weeks on end, the brothers finally sealed their mother away. Thus, the infinite Tsukoyomi was finally dispelled and the Age of Darkness had finally came to an end. And so, the Age of Hope was born. Humanity, freed at last from its curse was ashamed and guilt ridden at how they had behaved. For a moment, people were united as one, not to stand against a common enemy but to save one another. Kindness, mercy, compassionate and love flowed through each and everyone of them, rrom the newest new born to the oldest man. The Otsutsuki clan, satisfied that their work had been done, retreated away to a far away island, feeling that the new age had no place for them. Hamura went with him, becoming the new clan leader in his brother's stead.  
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_Hagoromo however, chose to stay behind in order to better oversee humanity's development. While the Age of hope had finally began, the Rikudou sennin, could see that people were still suffering. Endless accounts of misery and pain finally forced him into a decision. With his vast powers, Hagoromo shared out his chakra to each and everyone of the people. If humans to could understand the sufferings of another, regardless of words, the age of Hope would last forever and humanity would finally find salvation and redemption. For a moment, things went well. Whereas before when conflicts arose because a group of people could not understand another, ninshu finally allowed each and everyone to see what lies in their hearts._

_Thus the Age of Ninshu began, an age inside the Age of Hope. Many argue that it was a new age of its own but I disagree. If anything, Ninshu helped prolonged the Age of hope and his work done, Hogoromo finally retreated to the island where his clan had now called home. People mourn his leaving but the Rikudou sennin could not be denied; he missed his little brother and he missed his clan. Besides, people now had ninshu to understand one another, they no longer needed him. With that, he left and for all his deeds, the people called him by many names but my clan knew him by just one title. Hogoromo would forever be "The Sage"_

_When Hamura found out what his brother had done, he was initally apalled at such an act but finally consented when the Sage told him of the people's faith. Over time, the sage too grew to know love and soon had two sons of his own; Indra and Asura. By then the Age of Hope was at its fullest but despite people finally coming to terms with one another, there was still a sarcity of resources left in the wake of the juubi's destruction. When Hagoromo next decided to venture out, he found many suffering from hunger, famine, natural disasters and diseases and once more, his kind heart ache at how much pain the people were going through. Against his brother's wishes, The Sage left to find a more permament solution to end the people's suffering. _

_Despite numerous attempts and huge efforts on his behalf, humanity never saw the end of suffering. No matter how much he tried, now matter how many mouth he fed, there would always be ten others that would be left starving. His powers useless at this, The Sage withdrew from society to come up with a better solution. Unfortunately, time was not on his side. By then, he was old, tired and weary. With enough burdens to kill two man, Hagoromo decided to finally retire home and choose a proper successor. When Hamura next welcomed his brother home, he no longer found the strong willed man he had known his brother to be but instead a weakened, exhausted and bone weary version of Hagoromo. His health fading day by day, Hamura could only worry for his brother's sake, yet despite everything, it wasn't his age that caused the Sage to grow weaker but the concept that humanity needed to stand up without him that made the sage finally embrace death._

_His death inevitable, Hagoromo called his family into a secret meeting with him. Of the five present, there was Hamura, his dear brother, old but strong and free-spirited as ever. Then there was young Ashura, worried for the safety of his father, Indra keen eyed as ever. The remaining two, he had not seen but had heard of from his dear brother;his dear niece and nephew, Young Deva and Kinnara, two twins so alike it was impossible to tell one from the other despite their gender difference.  
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_With the entire family in the room, Hagoromo announced his decision to choose a successor but wanted everyone's thought on the subject. What followed next became the most heated discussion in history that would, or ever shall be followed. Indra was considered a genius by even the sage but throughout the entire ordeal where his father was travelling about the world, the first born had retreated home to his clan's island, so as to better perfect his gifts and talent. Indra had made it exceedingly clear; the weak do not inherit but only the strong. If the people wanted peace, they needed someone to guide them...someone to look after them and oversee every action that they take and he belived the Otsutsuki clan to be that answer, with him, the esteemed first born of the Rikudou Sennin to be that leader. _

_In this, Deva voiced his approval. Being a prodigy that even Indra had to recognise, Deva was perhaps the strongest in terms of raw power and intelligent of the four children. Yet for all his power, the young man could never find the one thing he had always sought for; a friend. With such great power, even his clan grew fearful of him, so much so that it hurt his gentle heart to no end. Despite this, Deva never strayed from the path Hamura taught him and while he had no one he could truly called a friend, he had people whom he could call family. It was because of this that Deva initally voiced his approval of Indra's decision, deciding that perhaps it was best to have a skilled dictator rule over the world instead of a democracy of talentless people._

_Against the judgement however was Ashura. Ashura believed that love was key to peace and if people were to be spoon-fed and ruled over, they would never come to care for one another as he had came so hard to learn. He had argued, that while his talented brother had left to hone his gifts, he had stayed behind with their dear father and seeing the wonders of what ninshu could grant, Ashura learnt to depent on others as other had depended on him. While this strength of love and care he had inherited from the friends he had made alongside his father on their long perilous journey, he had found new power and from their gained abilities rivaling that of his prodigy brother_

_Kinnara was of similar mind. She had voiced her concern over letting someone who had not experienced the suffering of others lead them. Ashura, on the other hand, had already experience this same suffering and because of the numerous bonds he had made on his journey, the people had come to trust and rely on him. If he were to lead them, an age of love would follow but if Indra was declared successor, an age of discontent would only follow. Similarly, and she had hesitated in informing her family members about this, but she could sense a malevolent intent from deep with Indra. Such lust, she warned and cautioned her brother, would only lead to another age of darkness and one where Deva himself seemed to be following._

_Perhaps it was his sister's advice or Ashura's logic but eventually Deva chose to elect Ashura as successor. Recalling all the times his younger cousin had spent being in the shadow of his older brother, Deva could only admire Ashura's resolve to improve and had even challenged him to a spar. Despite losing, Ashura had only picked himself up while promising to make their next one much more enjoyable while a smile on his face. Contrast to this, Indra would have queitly state that the next time it wouldn't be him on the floor but Deva. It was there and then that Deva finally understood what being a friend truly was and seeing the wisdom his dear twin had imparted to him, he chose Ashura as the new sucessor even voicing out, "He is not just my cousin. Ashura is my brother...my friend, no one else is worthy but him."_

_By then, Hagoromo's mind was decided even before Hamura had voiced his opinion. Similarly, Indra knew what the outcome would be and in his bitterness and anger, had excused himself from the room. And so, the successor to ninshu was finally chosen. With that, the sage finally passed on from this world to the next, giving his dear brother one last command. Should humanity ever fall from grace and Ashura lose sight of his true goal, Hamura must stand to right that wrong, no matter how slim it looked in this time of happiness. With that Hagoromo entrusted Hamura with the title "The Guardian" or he who guards against animosity._

_For a while, everything could only improve. Ashura immediately left on the journey, making a greater and greater number of friends and followers. Similarly, the twins were progress on their own. Inspired by his younger cousin to help built a future for humanity, Deva poured every once of his power and intelligence in trying to make life more endurable and less miserable for the people. He later defined the true concept of chakra and as well as develop the three forms of jutsu; ninjutsu, genjutsu and taijutsu. With such skills at hand, Deva set off into the world, after Ashura, eager to spread the knowledge worldwide to better help humanity. Because of his endless efforts to seek ways to improve people's life, Deva was forever known as "The Seeker" or he who seeks for the future._

_Kinnara, Hamura's beloved daughter, too eventually left the safety of the little island which the Otsutsuki clan called home to find a place for herself in this new world of Ninshu. She too was eager to prove her worth in the Age of Hope, against her father's will. Hamura had objected to this because out of the four of them, Kinnara was perhaps the weakest in terms of her kind and gentle nature but she stood tall and firm against his decision. Eventually, following her brother's footsteps, she helped refined jutsu and was the the establisher and the founder of many shinobi clans. Until today, the rules, regulations, customs and traditions of clans and clan laws are all attributed to her and she was known by many as the mother of all clans. For her deeds, she was labelled, "The Nurturer" or she who nurtures others. _

_While the Seeker and the Nurturer were indeed busy helping out mankind, Ashura the successor was facing trials of his own. After twenty hard fought years, he had finally united everyone together with the skills and foundations laid down by his two older and far wiser cousins. While Deva and Kinnara were already known by their titles, Ashura called them by another; "The builders". Because of his enyielding faith and believe in others, it was little wonder then than Ashura was finally granted the title "The Believer"_

_Yes, it was by this title that I, Ashura was entrusted but unfortunately, even I could never imagine th horror and corruption that befell upon my estranged brother. After two decades of hard work, the Age of Hope which was about to end and give rise to the Age of Love was immediately stopped and destroyed. Instead a new age was born...the Age of Inheritance. Why Indra fell, I could understand. How he tried to undo everything we had worked so hard to achieved, now that is something I could never forgive him for. gathering a group of people, who he founded under anew banner called the Uchiha clan, Indra sought to do war with me, Deva and Kinnara._

_When negotions failed, and when the three of us refused to fight, Indra destroyed an entire clan as an example of what he would do should we refuse to meet his demands. By then, I had willingly surrender my title as our father's successor to him but Indra refused. He felt that he should had inherit the title but because he hadn't, he would steal it from me...by killing those who had opposed it previously. While Kinnara and Deva had voiced support, I refused their help. This was something only a brother could do and because Indra was my older brother, he was also my responsibility._

_At first, I tried to connect our two chakras with ninshu but Indra reacted violently. When I still refused to fight, he destroyed another three clans as example. By the time he was about to destroyed the fourth one, I finally snapped. Cursing him with all my might, I flatly refused to hand over leadership to him, damning him to live a thousand lifetimes worth of suffering and misery for undoing everything that our father had tried so hard to built. Gathering a group of my strongest and most able man, I shared my chakra in the same way as Indra had empowered his people. Together, we became the Senju clan and thus began an endless war of fifty years. _

_Many times I had tried to reason with Indra, informing him that we could put everything behind us. We were brothers afterall and I could help him if he would just let me. When my please failed, I tried threats; the people had began calling him "The Accursed" for ruining the golden age of Hope that we had worked so hard to built but still he wouldn't listen. Finally, in a vast endless field where countless innocent lives were lost, I...I...I finally did it. I slew my own brother. For what it was worth however, I felt nothing as my brother laughed hysterically with his few breath as he cursed my existence as well as my lack of emphathy, "An act far worse that the the deed of killing me O Believer," Indra had taunted. To this day, his words haunt me but there were still many things to be done._

_Our war had ravaged the land and Kinnara and Deva were nowhere to be found. Upon return to Moonlight Island, I found that I was no longer welcome there and that the new leader, someone called "The Watcher" had banished me from my home and my clan. It was, my clansmen had told me, my fault for not being able to stop Indra as well as my fault that both the Nurturer and the Seeker were missing, or as they claimed dead. Shunned from my beloved home, I left with a heavy heart, with my new clan behind me. Yet all was not well. In my absence, the peace we had worked so hard to achieved had finally been broken. When people saw the Believer resorting to violence, they lost hope and no longer used ninshu to connect with one another but rather to weaponise it. _

_It was then that I realised what must have happened. When humanity gave in to despair, Deva and Kinnara must have gave up as well and had probably left, their work forgotten, their responsibilities ignored. That...or they could have comitted ritual suicide for failing ouf fathers. My heart fell at the sight of man resorting to violent means but I had still not given up hope. Afterall if the Believer stops believing...who then can look after the world which my dear father The Sage had tried so much for?_

_Back in the real world,_

"Whoa," Naruto muttered as Ryota dispelled the genjutsu. "There's more to it, isn't there?"

"Yes," he answered back. "But we've got trouble, Naruto."

As he pointed towards a group of dark figures moving closer and closer towards the campsite, the blonde immediately got up, getting ready should a fight break out. His mind however was reeling from everything that Ryota had shown him. No doubt when this was done, he would have his questions answered.

_Inside Naruto's subconscious,_

**"I knew there was something about that** **Ryota guy," Goku muttered. "He knows the true history of shinobi and Moonlight Island."**

**"Indeed," Kokuo muttered. "Little we can do there though.**

**"Hai," Kurama hissed. "Though I feel rather insulted that we were cut off from Ashura's tale." **

Once more, things were not going the bijuus way but that was a matter to be discussed later as their jinchuriki had more important matters to deal with.

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><p>Chapter End<p>

Don't forget to review guys! And comment if you want more history lessons!


	24. Chapter 24

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO**

**Author's Note: **Hi again guys and sorry for the later than usual updates. I've been working on a side series for a while now but still can't quite polish it up properly. Well, that and actually sitting down and writing it up. It's strange what the human mind can do to te body when it doesn't feel like doing anything. Anyway, there wasn't much reply regarding my last post so, let's just get on with it.

ON TO THE NEXT CHAPTER!

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><p>Chapter 24: First ambush<p>

_Just within the outer reaches of the tiny campsite,_

"Everything is in position, I assume?" a hooded figure called out from among the ranks of the five shinobis who had finally caught up with their target.

"It is as you have commanded, Toshiro," another person answered back. "I've sent the decoys out. No doubt Ryota would have sensed their presence and would be dealing with them shortly enough."

"You have my thanks, Nobu," Toshiro replied. "Remember the task at hand though. Don't go after anyone. The princess's guards are among the top-tier forces that the kingdom has produced. It would be suicidal to even think of going up against them. We're here for one thing and one thing only."

"King Sho would be angry if he knew what we were doing," one of the members warned.

"True," their leader answered back. "But remember, we're taking orders from someone higher up than him. Even the King has no authority to _him_."

There was a shuffling of feets as Toshiro delivered the last line. Like the rest of his group, he just couldn't understand why their current employer would want them to do something as underhanded as kidnapping the princess. Then again, he also knew that this wasn't the right time or place to be thinking such thoughts. Besides, it wasn't his place to be arguing. Even after years since the Forgotten war ended, their minds were still fresh with what happened to the last person who decided to betray and disobeyed the order given personally by _him_ and if there was one thing to be said about Toshiro's clan; they were not fools when it came to their survival. In essence they made the perfect soldiers; calm, strict, critical and analyzing. But most importantly, they didn't argue back against the one giving the orders...

"Get into position," he ordered. "It's time to move out."

_With Naruto and Ryota,_

Something's not right, the middle-age veteran thought as he surveved the way the group of potential ambushers were about to enter their camp. First of all, they look completely new to this ambush tactic, Ryota thought. Even an idiot could see that these people were not trained in the arts of stealth and surprise. Which brings me to only one conclusion...

"Naruto," the older man called out. "Leave these people to me, the true mastermind behind this little antic is hidden somewhere behind those trees. As your first order of business, it'll be your duty to rout him out!"

"Understood," the blonde called back as he readjusted his mask before nodding once more at Ryota. Taking this as a hint, the older man dissolved the barrier and the next second, Naruto was gone in a blur of movement. His companion now gone, Ryota turned his entire attention back to the group of five decoys.

"Right," he muttured. "Let's make this interesting shall we?"

_With Naruto,_

**Kit, I sense a malvolent presence somewhere from your left, Kurama informed as its jinchuriki scanned the neraby trees for any sort of movement. To his chagrin and to his current opponent's credit, he found nothing. It was then that the bijuus, along with their host, finally understood the true meaning of Ryota's words. The true threat was indeed hiding among the trees just outside the Moonlight force's grasp. That and the fact that even Naruto was finding it difficult to pinpoint their location made him suddenly aware of just how dangerous his enemies really were. No doubt, without Kurama's sensing abilities, he could be turned from the hunter to the hunter in this unfamiliar territory and depressing atmoshphere. **

The ambush squad were of similar mind as they silently watched their prey stumbling in the dark, senses hone for any sort of movement or noise. But these were not ordinary shinobis. With skills comparable to the elite anbus from each of the hidden villages, they were not new to this concept of surprise attacks and stealth. It was because they possessed such skills that they themselves could tell that the blonde anbu who was out looking for them had none of these same skills; his posture was slightly lacking, the sound of his heartbeat was louder than normal and so was the beat of his heart. Worse of all however, was the fact that the blonde was fidgeting in the dark as he tried glancing sideways from one point to the other to find where they were currently hiding.

**Seems**** our host still has a lot to learn when it comes to tracking and stealth, Gyuki mused. Like the rest of the bijuus, Gyuki knew that surprise attacks and patient strikes were not one of Naruto's strong suit. He was, to sum it up in as few words as possible, the perfect "shock troop" due to his ability to break a large group of enemies defense by rushing headlong into the fight. That, plus his insane amount of vitality, chakra and power behind his ninja techniques further defined him as the ideal candidate for the position. Now there was nothing wrong with being a shock trooper, seeing as Naruto was in essence the ideal solution to the huge army of zetsus back in the fourth war.**

**Despite this however, Kurama hated the fact that his host was labelled as such. In the bijuus eyes, being a shock trooper meant only one thing; you were the huge powerhouse that could swing your sword endlessly for hours without stopping to take a break or fire immenesely powerful jutsus one after another without breaking a sweat but you could still be taken down by a single kunai by someone who was far weaker than you but who was vastly superior in terms of intelligence, cunning and above all, patience. This was the primary reason why Kurama was adamant in having his jinchuriki master as much stealth and ambush tactics three weeks ago. He had certainly come a long way since then, that was certain but his current enemies were not helpless animals who could only run at the sound of a single footstep. Rather...these were true experts in assasination and in this situation, Naruto was the helpless animal.**

As Nobu silently removed a senbon needle from under his left bracer, the blonde felt a slight tingling sensation to his right. For a moment, a sudden swirl of images regarding a white-haired old man, whom he had never seen before in his life, flashed through his mind, interuptting his thought process. As Nobu took careful aim at his unsuspecting target, the rest of the assasin's squad members held their breath tightly. For the blonde however, things were not going smoothly as well; the blonde stunned by this sudden development remained rooted but as the memory of the old man's death flashed through the blonde's head; he was killed from behind by an unseen assailant...with, ironically, a senbon needle,Naruto reacted with cat-like reflexes. That image now gone but the stingling sensation still remaining, he honed his entire sense of being on the moment when the needle would strike. He didn't know howand he didn't know why considering the fact that most of the negative presence he was feeling from Kurama was directed from eveywhere around him and yet, somehow, deep inside him, his gut told him that his unseen assailant was going to strike from the left.

**These ninjas are smart, the fox growled.** **A master of sheer cunning himself, the ninetails knew the importance of surrounding your opponent, instead of grouping together as a single unit; if you choose to do the latter, it would only make it easier for your opponent to predict and avoid any form of confrontation that could come his way. Surrounding him however, provided him with a key disadvantage; he didn't know who was going to attack and from where. Yet for all their preparedness and silent patience, everything was for naught. As Nobu lauched the senbon, waiting for the needle to penetrate the anbu's fleshy torso and inject with with its lethal posion, followed by the soon to follow death that usually occured, the blonde simply did a quick somersault before plucking the needle with a well time and precise flick of the thumb and the forefinger.**

Poison, Naruto thought as he saw the liquid dripping from his would be murder tool. Flinging the needle back at the general direction from whence it came, he was rewarded with a dull thud and a satisfying yell as the needle found its original owner. Their position compromised by their comrade fallen, the rest of the ambush squard began arming themselves with their own poison tools before throwing it at the blonde figure in front of them. If anything, he wouldn't be able to dodge all of them. However, Naruto was well prepared for such an antic; face controting into a frown now, the blonde weave through a set of handseals before yelling out, "Wind Style: Still Air!"

What followed next was a sudden rush of wind from the anbu's body, rendering each of the poison kunais, shurikens and senbon needles aside. Their ambush tactic failed, the three remaining shinobis jumped out to face the teen, their fallen comrade joining them a second later. As the four newcomers began eyeing the young anbu infront of them, they suddenly felt a surge in energy emitting from the teen, before having it disappear. Not taking any more chances with him, they began circling the blonde once more.

"You don't have to do this," Toshiro exclaimed. "We're only here for the princess. Just surrender her to us and we'll let you go."

"My team mate is right," another one of them chipped in. "This isn't your fight, anbu-san. You're not even a Moonlight shinobi."

"Moonlight shinobi or not," Naruto answered back. "I never go back on my word."

Before they could answered him however, there was a sudden scream from the campsite, causing everyone to turned in their direction. A second later, a pool of darkness appeared in front of them, before revealing a shrouded figure carrying a slump girl over his back. Their mission done, Toshiro pointed at the blonde before ordering, "We leave. NOW. Ichiro, kill the spare."

That said, Ichiro held out a palm in front of him as the blonde made a mad dash for the supposed slump figure of the princess. Just as Naruto was mere centimetres away from reaching his goal however, a pillar of earth suddenly appeared underneath the blonde, before knocking him out of his path and causing him to land a few feet away, dazed but not defeated. Seizing their chance, the rest of the would-be kidnappers sushin themselves away to safety. As Naruto made his way to follow them, Ichiro swung a katana at him, barring his way to his target. The blonde still stunned by the man's earth based jutsu was only barely able to escape the sharp blade of steel but that move would cost him as he later fell backwards, his actions causing him unbalance in his desperate attempt to escape harm. As Ichiro swung the blade once more at the blonde, Naruto held out his forearm in retaliation.

Thinking the blonde to have given up hope, the assassin quicken his death sentence, all too aware of his current position. Just as the blade was about to slice through flesh however, there was a resounding thud from the blonde's forearm, causing his own arm to jar in resonance. Grimacing at the sudden backlash, Ichiro found the same surprise that awaited Midori when she first spared Naruto only a few days ago; a entire coil thick blue chakra chains surrounded the blonde, preventing the blade from bitting through. Just as he was about to try another attack however, the sudden movement of reinforcements forced him to consider otherwise. Acknowledging the fact that killing the blonde would be a waste of time, he made haste to escape.

Unfortunately, Ichiro had not only gone more than a few paces before he found his left foot held by the very same chakra chains that prevented him from harming the blonde only a few seconds ago. His situation getting more and more desperate by the minute, the shinobi channeled a huge amount of chakra into his katana. There were now two options; judging by how strong and resistant the chains were, he would either have to slice off his own foot or find an alternative...and fast. Going for the riskier play, Naruto's assailant did what the blonde would never have expected someone to ever do in a million years; Ichiro weave through a series of quick hand seals before flinging the entire sword; blade, hilt, grip and all at him. As the blonde swerved to dodge the incoming blow, Ichiro ignited the seal, causing a huge blast knocking both opponents fifty yards away from one another. His task done, the assasin vanished, leaving no trace of his whereabouts except for a few drops of blood from where he last stood.

Naruto on the other hand, cursed and made another attempt to chase after the squad only to be restraint as he found Ryota with a very wary look on his face. Tempted though he was to break free from the older man's grip, common sense told him to do otherwise; their camp wasin disarray, their forces confused and rushing headlong after the enemy when he had no plan what-so-ever would be foolish to the extreme.

"We've have a problem Naruto-san," he said gravely.

"Don't I know it," were the only words he could have muttered.

_Back at the camp,_

"What in the world happened?!" Hanako nearly yelled as she took in the battered shape of Naruto's anbu armour and Ryota's grim expression. At the centre of the camp were the five decoys which Ryota had intercepted the moment the battle had started. Threats they were though at first, they were nothing of the sort currently with Maria doing her best to patch up their wounds. Mitsuo was pacing outside his tent and everyone else was doing their best in scouting out for any remaining shinobis.

"They...escaped," Naruto whispered hoarsely, his voice husky and his head down. Denial crossed Hanako's face at the blonde's outburst, before being replaced with sheer anger. The anbu anticipated the blow as she reached out to struck him but he also knew of the deep connection that Hanako had with the princess. With such thoughts in mind, he refrained himself from evading the punch that was to come and when he did; he almost wished he hadn't. The force behind the red-haired punch was enough to take out anyone, well anyone, per se...except perhaps him. The next thing he knew however, was that he was being continously pounded by the angry samurai.

"YOU #$%^&* PIECE OF $%^&!" Hanako yelled. "I SHOULD NEVER HAVE TRUSTED YOU! WHERE IS HINATA-SAMA?!"

By then, everyone had came to witness the scene unfolding before them and seeing how troubled the red-haired was, nobody knew what to do. For the blonde's part however, he resisted any form of defending himself and just as the samurai was about to deliver another swift blow to his head, a certain bluenette suddenly appeared in front of her, preventing the teen from raining down any more abuse on their hired mercernary.

"Move out of the way!" Hanako roared, before realising who she was just about to hit. "Mi..mi-mi-milady?! I thought...but-huh?!"

"That's enough Hanako," she ordered sternly before grabbing the outstreched arm of the still very bewildered samurai. "Uzumaki-san i-is not t-to blame."

"Milady?!" Even Ryota was slightly shocked at this outcome. "But how?! I saw one of them dragged your unconscious form away from the campsite!"

"Th-that w-would be Hikaru's d-doing," she muttered under her breath. "She...tricked th-them into taking her..."

"This is still your fault!" the red haired samurai hissed at Naruto. "You should have kept a better watch! I would never have let something as bad as this happen!"

Once more, Hinata glared at the angry teen but before she could even scold the still simmering Hanako, Naruto did the unthinkable; reaching out an arm, he tore off his mask before pulling out a kunai and, in the ancient samurai code that he had managed to brushed up on before his mission, sliced the palm of his hand, before clenching it and letting the blood flow. Such a sight was enough to stunned even the usually apathatic Kiyoko, who had no doubt seen her fair share of horrors in the shinobi world. What shocked them however, wasn't the fact that he was pledging a blood oath right there and then but rather of the fact that he knew of the sacred samurai ritual when he was a shinobi.

[NOTE: NOT SURE IF THIS IS CORRECT OR NOT IN REAL LIFE. I'M NOT TAKING ANY RESPONSIBILITIES FOR ANY INACCURACIES HERE!]

"You..." Hanako whispered once the act was done. The blonde nodded once, before replacing his mask. His oath done, he began making his way slowly towards the forest once more, the others too still too stunned by his actions to stop him otherwise. A moment later and he was gone.

"What happened?" Mitsuo asked, breaking the sudden silence.

"Naruto-san...Naruto-san's g-going to b-bring back Hikaru isn't he?" Hinata asked aloud. The remaining samurais could only nod.

"That...or die trying," Takeishi added. "There's a reason why that ritual isn't practise anymore. Nothing we can do now."

Another bout of silence ensured, before being broken when Hanako rushed after the blonde. As Midori made an attempt to chase her down, Ryota held out an arm to stop her, "We have more pressing matters I'm afraid."

With that, he held up a piece of torn cloth containing an insignia of some kind. Such a symbol would have no meaning but not to the Moonlight soldiers. They were all too familiar with the crescent moon and star shape symbol; it was the emblem of their country afterall.

"We need to regroup," Ryota affirmed, earning nods from everyone around.

"What about those two and Hikaru?" Ryo asked.

"Leave them be, Ryo-san," Shisui answered. Afterall, he thought, this should be something that they should be able to work out anyway.

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><p>Chapter end<p>

What exactly happened between Hikaru and Hinata back in the camp? Find out next time!

Author's note; yes, I know Naruto would have made shadow clones when he was fighting with the group of unknown shinobis but in the heat of the moment; I forgot about that. Truth be told however, it would have been better had he not done it anyway or else there wouldn't be much to progess this story later on.


	25. Chapter 25

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO**

**Author's note:** Hi again guys and sorry for the late update. I've been going through a bit of a mental block lately and that's why I haven't been uploading as much. That and my right shoulder has been out of sync with me lately [really should see a doctor but at the same time don't want to]. Anyway, I've collected as much data on mythology as I wanted too but the problem was how was I going to bring mythological creatures together. You have to understand that Naruto is in essence a Japanese work of art and to incorporate western ideologies might be a bit rad and out of place. That said though, I am from Asia and trying to put in creatures like dragons and the chinese unicorn, "chilin" in would be a bit too troublesome. I'm still decided how I'm going to put that in so bear with me on that guys.

Anyway, once again, there wasn't much reviews and so I have nobody to chat with or reply in this section-so let's get on with it shall we?

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><p>Chapter 25: The successors<p>

_At an unknown place, at an unknown time..._

It was rather dark by the time our unseen character made his appearance in front of what seemed to be a huge tree of epic and might I say, titanic proportions. The entire atmosphere seemed to be tingling with of life as he made his way towards said tree and for a brief moment, he even allowed himself a small smile. His entire journey had been, while not entire challenging in the least, both ardous and demanding but he had succeeded in his task none the less. Now came the hard part...reporting to his superior.

"Who goes there?" a figure hidden in the shadows called out as he saw the unseen person walking towards the sacred tree. "Stay back!"

"I'm here to see the Watcher," our friend replied back in a mild tone. Even in the darkness, that very name sent chills down the protectors spine, though this was hardly surprising seeing as the Watcher far outrank even the king, whom these protectors was tasked to watch over the tree with.

"The master has been expecting you..." another shrouded figure called out as his companion slipped away, preferring to let his friend do the talking. This newcomer, no doubt, had been a protector for a much longer time than the other, if his confidence and his way of expressing himself was anything to go by. "Should I inform you of your presence?"

"That will not be necessary. I will inform him myself, Yashiro," he answered before making his way towards the sacred place where this watcher no doubt laid. As he reached out a hand to touch the tree, there was a slight groaning sound followed by a swift and almost unnoticeable shift in the trunk. A moment later, the trunk opened to reveal a staircase of sorts leading up towards its peak where no man, since the beginning of ninja history had ever managed to looked upon. Well, no man except those deemed worthy by the tree itself, that is. A few seconds later and our protagonist vanished.

Yashiro looked on in envy at that. He had served the royal family for nigh on forty years and never had he the chance to even so much as climpse what secrets laid behind those thick leaves. It was, for all intents and purposes, every protectors one dream to be able to journey up the sacred tree but only few ever had that previlege. Shaking his head, he turned his head around back to his little camp. There was no point in entertaining these thoughts, he thought. Afterall, what good were ideas unless you put them into actions?

_Far above the tree..._

"You called, master?" our young hero greeted as he made his way towards a large hallway, to which a wooden throne situated at the end. Large whisperings and curious eyes began glancing at him from both side of the hallways. The tree might have protectors down below but while the royal family hired guards to watch over the spectacular gift they had been graced with down below, it was up to the Watcher and those he employed to watch over the safety of the tree itself from within. By now, you would guessed this was no ordinary tree and you were right. Called the tree of tranquility, this gentle giant whose height far exceeded that of a small mountain and whose width equaled that of a tiny island, held every piece of knowledge that the Otsutsuki clan had managed to imbued with over the ages. It was old, wise and very dangerous. But like the Shinju, it was sentient to a degree and in essence, the polar opposite of it.

Whereas the Shinju was born of the blood, rage and hatred of humanity, the Tree of Tranquility was born of humanity's hopes and dreams. For what it was worth however, it was never a match for the might of the Shinju. This was because humanity's greed and negativity always exceeded those of its virtues and like any plant, with such negative thoughts, it was small wonder why one's growth was stunted and the other thrived in. A fact, made far worse by the shinobi system. Still, it was a stuborn tree and refused to give up its life in a time of despair. Unlike the Shinju however, the Tree of Tranquility was not an impartial being and many times tried to stop humanity from making wrong decisions. Sadly, it could only do by granting visions of the future as dreams to people because of its limited abilities and even then, the success was zero to nil.

It was little wonder then that when the Otsutsuki clan founded the tree, they had wasted no time in nurturing its growth and safety. After millenia of tender care and unrelenting resolve, the tree had finally reached a power similar but not equal to that of the Shinju. Despite this however, it was not allowed to leave the safety of the Kingdoms' lands and while still being cared for centuries later, it was all but a prisoner to the clan itself now. The clan however, saw this not as a curse but a blessing. The entity knew not of the horrors of humanity and sought to protect it from corruption from those who ished to used it vast wisdom and powers for themselves.

The being on the throne moved upon seeing his guest's arrival and with a sharp 'clank' of his staff silenced the whisperings from his retainers nearby. Advisers they may be but they had yet to learn that when it came to dealing with the successors of each age, courtesy and mannerisms never applied to them. Well, to this one at least but his original predecessor was never one to dealt on such pleasantries in the first place, a trait at least two others had inherited.

"Ah...Deva, it has been a long time since we've met," the aged figured called out in a voice that sounded like granite cracking. There were numerous lines upon his face but more prominent than that were the long lines of scars that ran through his face. His eyes, on the other hand, were glass orbs, no doubt a result of his advanced age but perhaps the most distinguishing trait of this old man was his long hair and beard, both of which were pure white and were long enough to touch the floor.

"I'm not the Deva you speak of, Master," his guest answered back, who by now had taken a seating posture in front of the figure. "But I bear news that of which you might find interesting."

"I last saw you four years ago...have you found what I was looking for?" he asked back.

"Apart from me, I have found three others. That makes us four," the man named Deva answered back. "However...I could find the fifth."

"It is as it should be, O Seeker of mine," he rambled on. "The Age of Inheritance is coming to a close...perhaps it's time for me to let go...but not yet. Not until the five are gathered. You have done well, Deva...I will call upon you when the time is nigh. Until then...you are dismissed."

"Hai Shisou," Deva answered back before making his leave, the room lush with whisperings once more now that their guest was gone. The old man however, paid no attention to such ramblings. He had other plans to make, plans he had waited ages to fullfill and finally the time was ripe, at long last.

It has been far too long, Hagoromo...I almost pity the old Hamura when he first took over this position, the old man thought. Yet, if this is my salvation and I am theirs, then I can finally let go of the reins of responsibility that had been so suddenly thrust upon me that faithful day. Believer, Seeker, Accursed, Nurturer and finally...the Beloved. Strange how Deva's current incarnation managed to find the four but not the last when it has been right under his nose all this time. How many ages has it been I wonder? How I have longed for death's embrace but not yet...not after my failure back then. There is still much work to be done...

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><p><em>With Naruto,<em>

Kitten, be careful. There's no telling what your adversaries might do once they realised that they've kidnapped the wrong person, a worried Matatabi whispered as the blonde leaped through the tree tops, using the Kyuubi's negative sensing ability as his compass. It had only been a few minutes since he left the Moonlight forces but already he could feel someone among them following him. Sighing softly, he stopped before turning around to find Hanako before him.

"Wait Naruto-san," the red hair girl called out. "I'm coming with you!"

"I don't need your help. I'll save Hikaru on my own," he answered back darkly, earning both looks of wariness and confusion from the bijuus and his clan member.

**This is not the time to show arrogance child, **Saiken cautioned, herself stunned at her host's blatant fury towards the red hair girl. Granted, his fury towards Hanako was justified seeing as he had indeed tried everything within his power to protect both his client and her guards. Unfortunately, things never went as smoothly as one would hope and like most mercenaries, whenever something inadvertably went wrong, the client would place the blame on their hired troops. Shinobis, however, were well aware of this fact and were trained to never express disatisfaction towards their clients. If that was the case, the amount of missions a village would be able to amass would amount to zero very soon. Afterall, who in their right mind would ever hire a shinobi who could potentially kill you if he was ticked off by your anger? Even if it was the client that brought it upon themselves in the first place.

Kurama however, knew the true reason and as Gyuki turned to place a curious eye upon his brethen, his suspicions were indeed proven true. For a split second after Naruto had uttered the line, a face on intense worry and understanding flashed through his face. Kurama managed to concealed it later on but the Eight-tails had spotted it and the damage was done. If the fox wasn't going to indulge the rest of the bijuus on what he knew then Gyuki would breech the subject himself, it was a matter involving his host's life afterall.

**"Care to explain the kid's decision, Nine-tails?"** Gyuki addressed when Kurama remained silent. His rash tone and the condescending term that he used to addressed the fox immediately caught the rest of the bijuus attention. Even Kurama, who cursed his carelessness had to admire the Eight-tails's wit in this regard. He had blatantly chosen this very moment where everyone would turn their attention towards him right now. Seeing there was no other way to circumvent the situation he was in, Kurama emulated his host's behaviour in the form of a sigh before deciding to come clean.

**"The ginger reminds him of a certain person who we all hate right now, Naruto included Gyuki," Kuram growled. Almost immediately, looks of understanding flashed through each of the bijuus' faces. That fiery attitude, that red hair and that penchant for blaming the blonde whenever something went wrong...it was all to similar and after what each of the rookies did back in the Hidden Leaf village, no doubt the Uzumaki would feel very agitated at having to face someone so similar to her.**

**"I don't particularly like the ginger," Shukaku interuptted. "But I don't see the point of the kid's biasness towards her. They might look and act the same but Ashura's kin is not that stuck-up little medic."**

**"Ah, but what if you ignore the fact that she is of the kid's clan? Also, bear in mind that he had to suffer this humiliation countless times over the years? Plus, need I remind you that the very fragile wall he has placed upon himself has already been shattered, Shukaku?" Kurama elaborated.**

Silence all around.

**"Exactly. Hanako is the prime example of one who decides to be at the wrong, at the wrong time," Kurama shrugged. "None of which matters, I suppose. If anything, she got what was coming to her, unlike that poor excuse of a medic..."**

_Back with Naruto,_

"You can't just go in alone!" Hanako retorted back. "You're outnumbered and outmatched! Goodness sake, you-"

"I don't need you to tell me that," the blonde muttered back coldly. "Besides, what can one samurai like you do? Go back to playing guards, Hanako."

A look of fury flashed through the red haired Uzumaki's face as she heard that. She had never considered the blonde as a nuisance before but now that he was actually criticising the samurai corps, he was more than that in her eyes now. Mercernary or not, we would do far better without him, she thought. Unsheathing her blade, she rushed at him...only to be stopped when she realised that her movements were sealed and there was a rather sharp prick at the base of her neck.

"I went easy on you the last time Hanako," he hissed threateningly from behind. "If I wanted to, I could have killed you. You don't know just how far my capabilities actually stretched but let me remind you just why I was called the Hero of the Fourth Shinobi worth war."

A cold drop of fear entered her heart at that. It seemed that when Mitsuo cautioned her to watch her step about this boy, she was indeed wrong to laugh it off back then. There was only one thing left to do and she hated even entertaining the thought of it but Hikaru's life was in danger.

"Please let me come with you," she begged, her voice defeated and sorrowful. "Hikaru's one of my closest friends...not one of my ONLY friends. I can't bear it if something bad ever happens to her..."

"A sentiment that I'm well aware off that doesn't extend towards me," the blonde countered back and earning a grimace from the red haired teen. "I questioned myself just why I go to such lengths to protect people who do not even look out for me but we all have out reasons, I suppose. Very well...follow if you like, it's your funeral."

"Thank you..." she whispered back as Naruto banished the tanuki's cursed seals. Slowly she followed his steps as they silently made their way towards the campsite but shame began spreading through her as she considered Naruto's words. Here he was, a member of her lost clan and though he had done nothing to result in Hikaru's current predicament, she was holding him responsible for it. Worse of all however, was the fact that he had uttered truth in those words of his; none of the Moonlight soldier's would gave two cents if he died but Naruto had vocally and physically staked his honour and life as a shinobi to bring back one of their own. It made her realised just how flawed their forces really was; they only cared about themselves but Naruto, a mere mercenary, was risking his life for Hikaru because she had guilt-triped him into doing so. Once we save Hikaru...I'm going to have to apologise to nii-san, a remorseful Hanako thought. It would an honour to help rebuilt our clan with him. I should have agreed in the first place...

"Be still!" he suddenly ordered as they neared the campsite of the enemy shinobis. They were quite a distance away now and how he had managed to track them down in the dark with no lead what-so-ever, astounded Hanako. The only person she had known who was capable of such a feat was Seiji but even he would take quite a bit of time in pinpointing out the enemy's location. Naruto, on the other hand, had just followed what seemed to be an invisible trail but that was a thought she would have to bring up later, as the blonde in front of her suddenly froze.

"Get down!" he yelled as a group of unseen assailants threw a set of kunais towards the Hanako from behind her. The red haired had no time to evade but the blonde was ready even when she was not. Jumping straight at her, Naruto managed to push her out of harms way but not without cost as a few of the kunais became embedded into his flesh. Growling, Hanako unsheathe her blade once more before releasing a stream of flames at their attacker. Her anger turned to shock when the fire light up the entire forest, revealing that they had walked straight into a set trap and that there was no one behind the throws afterall. The ones who had triggered it were in fact, the two of them.

"How far the samurai corps has fallen if you've managed to get caught up in such a simple set-up," Toshiro, the group's head muttered as he greeted them.

"Leave him be, its me you want!" the samurai called out as she placed herself between the five hooded figures and her fallen comrade.

"The two of you are worth nothing to us," Toshiro muttered back. "Still...I know the princess values the life of her retainers much higher than that of her own. I wonder if she would be willing to agree to a trade?"

"DIE!" Hanako yelled, swinging another stream of flames at the hooded figures.

"To think the day when one of our own would stand up against us for an outsider," Ichiro muttered. "Anger will do you no good, Hanako-san."

"It is better to stand with one who would give up his life for mine than for those who have traded their honour for shame, traitors!" she sneered back. Almost immediately a sense of foreboding descended upon the young samurai's soul. No doubt her words had triggered a switch in their mind and whereas they had considered knocking her unconscious before, they were now going to torture her for a bit.

"Spoken like a true Uzumaki," Naruto muttered as he lined his back behind hers.

"Nii-san!"

"We'll have time for words later," Naruto grimaced. "Back to back!"

"Hai!" As both Uzumaki's cast their jutsus against the squad leader, Toshiro merely smirked at their antics. It was going to be amusing to see just how far they were going to push themselves. More so when they realised that their actions would amount to nothing. As flame and wind collaborated together, a thick barrier wall materialised between the five hooded assasins and the two Uzumakis. Toshiro laughed then, his amusement fullfilled. How true it was that the ignorant fight to win whereas the wise had won before they even started the fight.

"You know nothing," Toshiro taunted. "Did you really think we wouldn't anticipate your arrival? Fools, the Moonlight Kingdom has no need for one such as you, samurai. I had hoped to spare your wretched life Hanako-san but you dishonour the corps with your pathetic skills and carelessness. Know that, at least, you die a warrior's death. The Kingdom has no need for amateurs."

"I couldn't agree more," a cold voice interuptted followed by the sound of a blade piercing through flesh as Toshiro coughed up blood. Glancing down, he found a blade lined with white lightning had cut through his torso, missing his vital organs but only just.

"How...?" he asked as the remaining four shinobis leaped away from the currently sizzling Hikaru.

"I spent my entire childhood planning missions, tactics and strategies Toshiro," she snarled, twisting the blade even deeper into the assassin's chest. "Riddle me this; just who was it that came up with the utilisation of an armed trapped and a barrier seal at the same time?"

"Your reputation preceeds you, Hikaru-san but you are a fool if you think this will kill me," the assassin snapped, before distancing himself away from the still fuming blonde.

"I never aimed to kill you," she smirked. "My aim was to set my friends free. Now Hanako! Now Naru-chan!"

All too late, Toshiro realised her true intentions. By breaking formation, they had released the barrier seal holding the two prisoner and instead of being in a position to bargain, they were now in a compromised one. This is not over you damn vixen! the white haired man snarled. It was torture to watch his subordinates cut down one by one but there was no going about it. As two of the five fell to the blades of the two vengeful Uzumaki's Tashiro, regrouped together with Nobu and Ichiro.

"Toshiro, we have to re-group!" Nobu started. Three on three might look like a fair fight but once more, they were assasins trailed in the art of stealth and deception. In open combat, they were no match for the combined might of two samurais and an anbu who had been trained for such an encounter.

"What about Isshin and Zeng?" Ichiro asked. Toshiro gave him a hard look at that. Without so much as another word, he threw two kunais, one aimed for Isshin and Zeng. A second later, their muffled cries came out and then silence.

"You win this round but treasure your time while it last." All three weave through a set of patterns and a second later, they all vanished.

"Hikaru!" Hanako yelled as she threw herself at the still panting sixteen year old. "I thought...but-how?"

"I let myself be caught in the first place Hanako-chan," she grinned back. "It was a bit too easy though. All I did was yell 'don't you dare harm my guards!' and before I knew it they had taken up the bait. It's a wonder how a single line can matter between life and death."

"But why did you let yourself be caught?!" she admonished back.

"Success is only a few miles short of failure," she philosophised. "I took a risk to see if I could find out anything about our attackers...and I would have found out more if it weren't for you and Naru-kun though."

"You could have gotten yourself killed!" Naruto scolded back as he removed the kunais still embedded in his arm. The pain was slowly disappearing and the wound closing now that the bijuus began working on it. That said however, he was rather worn out by the attack all together.

"Can't make a omelette without breaking an egg, Naru-kun," she shrugged back before flashing him a small grin. "Still, thanks for coming to my rescue Naru-kun."

More like the other way round, Hanako thought. "Thank you, nii-san for saving me..."

"It...w...nothing..." he struggled back. Strange how much he had exerted himself. Even the words were too much of a burden against him now. His head felt very light and why was the ground suddenly so wobbly?

"Naru-chan/Nii-san!" both girls called out as the blonde fell flat onto his face, his mind now gone.

"What in the world?!" Hanako asked when Hikaru immediately poked her finger into the kunai wounds that he had sustained only minutes before. When she pulled it out however, there was now a horrified look on her face. It was black and it reeked of decay. "Poison! No! This is all my fault!"

"Hanako get a grip!" Hikaru ordered. The blonde teen might be childish and condescending at times but when matters escalted to a halt like this, her more mature side took over and right now, Naruto's life were in their hands. Why did I came up with this poison in the first place?! she thought, knowing all too well just what it was that Naruto had been infected with. "We need to get him to Maria."

"I'll carry him," Hanako muttered.

"No, I will. You lead the way!" Hikaru corrected. If anything, it was now a race to save the blonde's life...

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><p>Chapter end.<p>

Sorry this chapter took so long guys. I had to re-edit it a bit. Originally it was going to be a bit of a brawl between the five of them but I wanted demonstrate Hikaru's intelligence and how she attained her rank at such a young age. That said, why Hanako fell for such a simple trap was because she was emotionally unstable at the time. She'll get lectured on for that in the next chapter.

But what happens next when Naruto's life is in danger?! Find out next time!


	26. Chapter 26

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO.**

**Author's note: **Hi again guys and sorry for the late update. A LOT of stuff went wrong with this chapter. Firstly, I keep getting mental blocks and what-not. Secondly, while in the middle of uploading it, fanfic crashed and I lost all of my data T.T Oh well, those are the breaks I guess. Hope no one was too angry by that. I will be trying to upload as much chapters as I can before Januray starts since that would most likely be a hectic month for me.

To pervyysage: Actually, as far as I know, Shisui is older than Itachi. This wasn't elaborated in the anime/manga but it was vaguely stated that Itachi considered Shisui to be akin to an _older_ brother, unless I'm wrong. I did tweaked it a bit in the way that like Itachi, Shisui would have joined the anbu corps at a very young age. As to why he knew about Kurama, well that's probably a perk being taken under own Minato's personally wing. [This last part is not canon but was introduced by me in chapter 16].

Hope that clarifies things a bit. Anyway, ON TO THE NEXT CHAPTER!

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><p>Chapter 26: Birds of a feather<p>

_Back at the camp,_

As both teens dragged their unconscious friend back, everyone gathered round to inspect the damage done to our blonde hero. It had been a very disastrous first day for them and now that they've found their mercenary half-dead and being dragged back to camp, the tension grew all the more tense. Similar to Hanako and Hikaru, half of the Moonlight soldiers were of similar mind in trying to save Naruto. These included Hinata, Mitsuo, Shisui, Ryota and Maria. Everyone else were of opposite mind; they were on borrowed time and the longer they spent travelling, the more dangerous their situation would get, seeing as they had already been ambushed on their very first night out. Besides, to the soldiers, Naruto's life did not equal that of their target. What was the life of a mercenary when compared to a princess? Many others had died before Naruto and while he was an international hero in the eyes of the world, his life meant _nothing_ to the Moonlight soldiers. The only reason why Mitsuo cared about his wellbeing was because the bluenette did so while both Ryota and Shisui cared because they had both promised to look after their late friend/sensei's son. Maria, on the other hand, was a healer and to her, all life was precious, even those of the enemy and she always hesistated to take life, even when it had to be done.

"We leave...NOW," Kiyoko voiced out when Hikaru began arguing against Ryo's decision of leaving the blonde behind. Everyone turned to face the raven haired girl as she did so but no one dared to argue back. A mistress of a thousand different genjutsu at her disposal, each of which could leave you incapicatated for at least a week, it was no wonder why no one ever dared to utter a voice of disapproval, although they were looks of anger and disaapointment in some of them. There was a reason why those who ever crossed the assisination expert never lived long to tell the tale and it was because Kiyoko would readily take matters into her own hands. She didn't particularly care, per se, for the princess's life. Okay, maybe that wasn't completely true because the bluenette had managed to reawaken her long chained up memories but life most ninjas, the mission came first before anything else. Besides, Kiyoko was the epitome of the Moonlight Kingdom's elite assassination squad; effective, quick, deadly and remorseless. Either people learn to follow her orders...or they die opposing them.

One person however, did challege her back and that was Maria. As the small figure stood to stand against her figure of authority, chills spread throughout the little camp. It was never a good sight to see these two fight. Like EVER. Not all of Hinata's little squadron knew the true extent of Maria's capabilities, apart from her healing prowess but those that did, including Mitsuo, Ryota and Kiyoko herself, were actually sweating now. Not for the first time, looks of confusion flashed through the samurai's faces. Whatever happened in the shinobi corps was none of their affairs but why was even Kiyoko, whom all five samurai were very afraid of, intimidated by Maria? As Kiyoko reached out to touch her blade, it seemed that they were about to find out...

"We don't have to do this..." Kiyoko muttered, completely unsheathing the blade now. It was hard, painful even, to currently stand in the healer's aura. Never before had Maria ever shown this much emotion against one of Konoha's elite jounins being taken down before but now that she did, it astonished her to no end. Just how important was this boy?

"You're right, we don't, Kiyoko-chan," she answered back, her aura growing ever fiercer. "We can still save his life...if you all let me."

"I must protest," Takeishi objected. "Why must we go to such lengths to save someone who-"

"Means nothing to us?!" Hanako finished for him. "He might mean nothing to you but he means everything to me!"

Looks of shock faces were strewn across each and everyone of them at the red-haired words. She had openly objected to Naruto's presence only the night before when she saw how close her mistress was getting towards him but now she was fighting for his sake? Something was definitely not right. Period.

"Naru-chan saved both of our lives," Hikaru added, earning looks of understanding this time round. The Moonlight soldiers might be heartless when the time called but their members also valued loyalty and honour. Unfortunately, even honour had its boundaries and they were not going to go out of their way just to save his life; they had proven this many times before.

"You know as well as I do that the drug he has been infected with cannot be cured," Kiyoko protested. "He has but a few hours left...tell them, Hikaru."

"What does she mean, Hikaru?!" Hanako asked, more worried than ever now.

"I...its...tsk..." she hesistated.

"You are partially right, Kiyoko," Mario tooked over, still directing that glare of hers towards the raven haired youth. "But not completely I'm afraid. There is a cure, afterall, I hardly think the one who introduced it into our ranks would have done so without the necessary precautions, right Hikaru-san?"

"Yes," she whispered back. "But...its near impossible to cure him without vital information from the enemy..."

"What are you talking about?" Seiji asked now. This whole thing was a mess. The way he saw it was they should just kill the blonde to end his suffering and move on with their life but a warning glare from Shisui made him reconsider otherwise.

"Back when I was still under tactics and operations, we were ordered by the higher ups to search out for a particular form and potent type of poison. One of which, while not impossible to cure, would be very hard to," Hikaru explained. "The antidote...is very scarce in itself but I'm sure Kiyoko has a set. It was one of our precautions afterall."

"I don't see the probl-" Hanako began when Hikaru interuptted her. She was not going to like this part.

"The posion is derived from a hern grown by absorbing its owners chakra. As such, it has unique properties in the form of the user's own special type of chakra," she continued. "Each of the assassination and espionage members were given a herb of their own and five months after which, the plant could be harvested. The cure while we do have, would be incomplete, since it has one vital ingredient missing...the user's own blood."

"No..." Hanako cried. "Why in the world would you make such a horrible thing?!"

"To ensure the total success of a mission's parameters," Kiyoko elaborated. "We can't just go mixing any random person's blood since the user's own chakra is specific towards his own life force, of which the **life-blood** is an essence of itself. Unless you are going to volunteer chasing after those who poison Uzumaki-san, he'll die in less than three hours from now."

"I'll go," Hanako muttered, standing tall to face the raven haired girl now. She had never liked Kiyoko because of her negative personality but now, that loathing was replaced with an ambition to prove herself and defy Kiyoko's seemingly hopeless statement. Her nii-san had proven that while things might have looked grim, hope and victory was still attainable, of one were to only look for it. More than that however, was the desire to see this heartless ninja put in her place for discarding Naruto's life like it was nothing.

"Foolish," the raven-haired ninja replied. "You would risked your life for some person whom you do not even know?"

"He's not just some person," she snarled back. "He's my clan's remaining heir, one who I've finally found after all these years. You wouldn't know, having been banished from your own clan, Kiyoko-san!"

A look of pure fury flashed through the assassin's eyes but before she could do anything, Maria reached out to grabbed her arm. "I'm coming with you Hanako," she offered, stunning everyone else as well. "I can't bear to see Naruto-kun get killed just like that."

Then in a voice only she and Kiyoko could hear, she told her, "Don't even think of using that tanto knife against me, Kiyoko. I was the one who gave it to you anyway..."

"Only because you couldn't control it's true power, Maria," she taunted back, but wisely decided to sheathe her blade back. If her companions wanted to challenge her wisdom, then so be it. It would only waste what precious little time that they had but fools couldn't argued with, they needed to learn from themselves. Naruto was dead either way, no matter how it looked.

"Mitsuo-sama, by your leave?" Maria asked, to which the older man nodded back.

"Godspeed to you both," he answered back. "Naruto-san's life is in your hands now."

_With the two girls,_

"You didn't have to come, Maria," Hanako said as the two of them traced their ambushers path. "If anything, my nii-san needs your skill base at base more than me."

"Hikaru should be abtter substitute for that than me, seeing as she was the one who actually pioneer the poison in the first place," Maria replied. "Besides, it has been a while since I've actually did a bit combat practice...I just hope I remembered how to execute my moves before."

"No offense, Maria," Hanako replied. They were in the forest by now, and every single movement would count on whether they had the upper hand or not. "But, don't you think you should leave the fighting to the fighters?"

"Do not think with your eyes, Hanako," the older medic replied. "It ill befits you, something that those nine little beasts inside our patient would agree."

"What are you talking about?"

"Nothing," she replied. "Anyway, have you picked up the trace?"

Reaching down, the red haired teen brushed aside a fallen leaf to reveal a footprint. A few metres away from that, was a kunai lined with blood and a short distance from that, a discarded hood. There was no doubt that their ambushers have come this way but even in the dim light of the moonlight, Hanako could sense something was terribly wrong. The last time she had tracked them down with Naruto, there wasn't even a single trace of clothing, tool or even blood from their assailants...not even a hair strand. Which could only mean one thing...

"It's a trap!" she whispered. Toshiro and his two henchmen had wanted them to follow, a thought that only grew thicker when she realised the intention in his words, "**Treasure your time while it lasts**." But what could he hope to gain from them? As far as Hanako was concern, the Moonlight milita cared little for the life of hired mercernaries, something that Kiyoko had shown. Either they had a very very good source of intel or, and the horror of the situation chilled Hanako to the bone; there was a mole in their little squad. A mole who had been doing nothing but ratting out information to them ever since the beginning. Afterall, how else would they know they would be followed in the first place?

"Hanako...why...why are you pointing your blade at me?" Maria asked, as the red haired samurai got into her battle stance. Could it have been Maria this whole time?! A lot of things seemed to add up, the medic was always there for discussions but she was never one to partake in the planning, nor was she ever the one who ever put herself out there in the open field before. Why else, would she then, put herself out in danger now...other than to reunite with her true comrades?

"Stand still!" Hanako hissed back. "Maria...you...you..."

"Hanako, I don't know what has come over you but trust me when I say I would never do anything to jeapordise the mission!" she answered back. They were in unchartered territory now, with a group of highly dangerous ninjas who were planning for their arrival. If she didn't do anything quick, then the hunter would become the hunted.

"Then why did you volunteer for this mission when you don't even know nii-san?" the seventeen year old asked back, sweat pouring through her sides now. Hanako was all too aware of the danger they were in but she also didn't like the thought of being stabbed in the back when her guard was down. The way she saw it, there was no one she could trust at all and the best option was to head back and call off the mission...at the cost of her clan member's life.

"You...you think I'm a spy?" the ninja replied, hurt evident in her pale face before she covered it up behind a mask. "Hanako, I would never betray the kingdom! Please, you have to believe me..."

"Then you lead the way," she answered back, her sword still drawn in that position. Reluctantly, the medic took up her samurai friend's position before leading the direction to where she believed their ambushers lied. It didn't help matters that Hanako was still too suspicious of her at the moment. Forget about Toshiro, Maria thought desperately, if I don't something to reinforce Hanako's trust in me soon, forget about saving Naruto-kun, we might not even make it back alive. They were entering a clearing in the woods now, a fire of sorts, was illuminating the centre of the clearing, with three dark figures in the centre. A small frown crossed the healer's face, there was a limit to how far arrogance could go but this three had taken it straight up to that line and beyond.

"Ah Maria, to what do I owe this pleasure of meeting you, hmm?" Toshiro geeted, making the situation all the worse for the two girls.

"Toshiro...I should have known," Maria muttered as she stepped out of the clearing, with Hanako following after her. If any of them were shocked at the way the red haired teen was behaving, they didn't show it. Far more benficial would be a way to turn this little outcome to their advantage and quick.

"It has been forever since we last met shisou," the enemy head continued. "Where are my manners...Ichiro, Nobu show my former teacher and her guest some courtesy."

"You always been one to taunt others, Toshiro," the healer answered back darkly, as both his companions gave off slight bows, making the movement as mocking as possible. "Enough chatter, you know why we are here. Give us a sample of your blood. Now."

A schism? the assasin thought back as he saw the way Hanako was behaving towards her former team mate. This just got a whole lot interesting...

"It's time to drop the facade, Maria," he answered smoothly. "We have what we wanted, now kill the spare..."

"Hanako, no!" Maria shouted but it was too late as the red haired girl snatched up the bait. Tired, stressed and feeling betrayed, Hanako ouldn't take it anymore. Whirling her sword in an arc, she swung out at the healer, who was trying her best, not to injure her disillusioned comrade. As a slash drew blood from her arm however, Maria realised that there was no alternative about it. Begging forgiveness from the red haired samurai, she jumped back from another incoming slash before jumping right back into her area od contact and, channeling chakra into her open palm, struck it right into the seventeen year old's face. Seconds later, Hanako felt the darkness gripped her but as Maria held on to her already failing subconscious, the red haired only uttered one final line of hurt.

"Traitor..." she choked, before finally fainting.

"A pity really to see the naiveness of the young, don't you agree?" Toshiro answered back. Now that the Hanako was taken care of, hey could focused on the true threat in front of them; Maria. As Nobu and Ichiro got ready into their formation, Maria merely slung the unconscious samurai across her back before turning to give them a death defying look.

"And how sad it is to see the arrogance of the old," she returned. "I had hoped to make this as clean as possible but if this is the way you want it to go down, then so be it."

"You know nothing shisou," he yelled back angrily, as all three of them rushed to engaged the medic in fight. "There are orders even we cannot disobey. Orders that superseed even the king!"

"And there are orders that we can choose not to obey," she fought back, dodging each and everyone of their attacks. "Did you think that I was demoted to become the princess's escort because I chose to defy _his_ orders?! If anything, I chose this position because I wanted to end the dark age plaging out beloved island! Even if it meant standing up against that old fool!"

"Then show us...show us the strength of the most diabolical murderer to ever lived in the Moonlight Kingdom," Toshiro demanded. "Show me the power of your conviction. Show me that we are not bound by the hopeless thread of fate called destiny!"

Forgive me nii-san but it seems that I must tapped into that forbidden power once more, Maria thought. As seals lining the side of her body activated once more, the entire ground before them cracked, forcing the three of them to jump back in fright. While looks of horror and confusion laced through both Ichiro and Nobu's face, Toshiro's face held one who was certain of inescapable death but also one who had accepted it. I die today, he thought. But I have fullfill my honour. At the very least, I die fighting my very fate to the bitter end. Not a bad way to go out...

_Later_

"Oh...what happened?" Hanako muttered as she stood up, only to be restraint by a bloody hand. As memories of the previous fight flashed through her mind, she gave off a low growl. "YOU! Traitor!"

"Stop moving, Hanako," Maria called out. Her hair was a mess, blood was strewn across both her face and her shirt but worse of all was the face of guilt and torment. Maria was a healer, one who was dedicated to the presevation of all live, both humans and non-humans. It went against ever single coade of the medic to kill but she had done...to save the lives of two others. As Hanako turned to stand before her, she gave a slight nod before walking back to the corpses of her three victims. Nobu and Ichiro were long dead but not Toshiro, he had held on to the very end.

"Have I shown you enough?" the medic called out.

"Yes...*cough* I can at least die...knowing that you would right the wrongs that I did..." the white haired man coughed. Taking a single vial, he prick his finger, allowing a small trail of blood to enter it before handing it over to her. "Tell the blonde...that I am sorry. Tell him...he has to live for the sake *cough* of our kingdom."

"Tell him yourself," she snarled back. "I won't let you die!"

"It's too late for me and you know it," he answered back but knowing his former comrade's stubborness, the assassin took out one of his blade's before plunging it deep into his chest, shocking both girls at the horrible display of suicide. "The others will be coming for *gurgle* her..."

"Why did you do this?" Maria cried out.

"To bring my master back," he answered with a sad smile. "It was a deal...but shisou, know that the Seeker has other plans...for the Believer..."

A second later and he was dead. "Maria?" Hanako asked now that she realised her mistake. The medic however wasn't paying her any attention. Her former student's had triggered an alarm bell in her mind. A warning that she had hoped would never be activated, no matter when. Arms shaking this time roung, she gripped the vial of blood before facing the samurai.

"Hanako...we l-leave n-now," her teeth chattered. "We've got w-what we've came for..."

"Maria," Hanako hesitated. "I'm sorry..."

"We move, now!" she ordered urgently. "Quickly!"

"Hai!" the samurai said, before disappearing into the woods after her. Just when the clearing was beginning to fade from their view, Maria turned once more to cast a melancholic eye on Toshiro's body. Fate had deemed them master and student in the beginning but in a cruel twist of irony, it had molded them into mortal enemies at his very last moments. Shinobi followed a code of conduct that they could never disobey, one that held the lives of their nation in their hands. But Maria had chosen to break that conduct a long time ago, both for the sake of her nation and her beliefs. She had been warned that there would serious repercussions but never in her life would she have believed that she would have to take the life of the first person she had ever shared a bond with.

To actually think he would actually reveal something that only selected few should know, Maria thought bitterly to herself. Nii-san...what in the world are you thinking?! When this is done and dusted, I'll have you answer for your crimes! You can bet on it. Her thoughts swung back towards Toshiro and once more sadness swelled up in her heart. Your death will not be in vain...I promise you this Toshiro...

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><p>Chapter end.<p>

Sorry for the late update guys. I hate a lot of problems with this update. Namely with Maria. I decided giving her just a bit of screentime in order to place her in amore mysterious light but it was very hard to do and I kept giving more hints than I should. I recommend re-reading the chapter if you want to find out more about her character. Toshiro was originally suppose to have more screen time as well but letting him live only added friction since he knew far too much.

As usual, please do leave your comments, criticism or otherwise in the section below. Once more, I apologise for this late update.

Next chapter we finally begin a new story arc! Yay! Will there be more drama? Action? Romance? YOU DECIDE. I've already got the backbone of the story lined up but I'll need your ideas in helping to fill that up.


	27. Chapter 27

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO.**

**Author's Note: **Hi again guys and sorry for the late update. Christmas is coming soon and that said, it can be a bit hectic during the festivities. Apart from that, I really have nothing to say since once more, there wasn't much reviews from the readers at all. So, on to the next chapter!

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><p>Chapter 27: History lessons<p>

_In Naruto's subconscious,_

**"Kit, I don't know if you can hear me but you'll going to be just fine," a very anxious Kurama told the slumped figure before the nine bijuus. It had three days since the attack, subsequent poisoning of the blonde and admission of the antidote therein but the blonde had still not awoken from his toxic induced slumber just yet. No doubt, his body was healed but his mind was still processing just what he was doing right there and then. **

It was true what Shisui had first said to him, the Moonlight soldiers neither care for his well being nor for his life for that matter but if he wanted to earn their trust, he had prove himself capable of such a feat of honor and sacrifice. An action that he had no doubt achieved when he had offered his life in exchange to save the blonde samurai. And though he was now elevated in the eyes of some of the soldiers, others, most notably Kiyoko, had begun to think that they was better off without him...a fact that did not escape his cloudy, unfocused but still conscious mind at the time of the raven haired ninja's suggestion to just leave him before continuing on. This simple act, no matter how insignificant it may seem to others' eyes, was anathema to Naruto. Granted, he knew his life meant nothing to them but he had thought that they would at least try and help him for his efforts.

Now however, he realized just how expendable a shinobi's life can actually be. Ninjas were forced to offer their services for the people who offered the highest bid, be it killing, defense or even the employment of simple task. Of course, their employers didn't care if they lived or died. They were, in every essence of the word, mercenaries and like all mercenaries, were treated as nothing more than expandable ashes. It was then that Naruto realized another crucial component in the ninja world;** shinobis might fight for their own nindos but that uncontrollable hatred triggered by generations of undless killings between friend and foe alike between shinobi was perpetuated not by just the shinobis alone, but also the way the world and society, had evolved in general. **Who cared if one shinobi died? There were countless more to replace him. In the eyes of the people, you were either a mercenary, someone who would defend them or a lost cause altogether.

That way of thinking had however, been shattered when the allied army fought for the right to the freedom that they believed everyone had and for a moment everything took on a different route as people now viewed enemy shinobis with reverence and respect, no longer with contempt and hatred. Yet, how long was this to last? How long before the chain of hatred was reforged back in new? All it would take would be two clients, both who were against each other and both of which who wanted the other dead, hire separate ninjas from different nations and the endless circle would begin anew. Given this short window of time where a momentary peace had been restored, it seemed unlikely. But what would happen when discontent arose once more in someone's heart? Would a daimyo turn down disreputable missions when his village so desperately need the funds to run the country? Even ninjas needed to eat and what was the life of another when the live of the ones you held dear are placed under the scrutiny of poverty, hunger and misery?

What am I fighting for? the blonde thought to himself, deep within a subconscious within _his_ subconscious. Everything I've done will be overturn sooner or later. What do I do when someone desires for something that does not belong to him? Do I just kill him? What about if my country declares war for the sake of its starving people? Do I refuse to fight? What then if my loved ones commit unthinkable acts? Do I do _nothing_? Who am I to judge what is right and wrong? What right was I given this fate, to be judge, jury and executioner, all at the same time. To be shinobi is to be the embodiment of death itself and yet, everything I have done has been contradictory to it all...even I am a contradiction to my own goal. Dad...you were wrong. I was never meant to find the answer...I'm...just Naruto...not some savior of the world...just Naruto...just...plain Naruto...

**"You are more than that, Kit," Kurama addressed. "You have never strayed from the path that you've so desperately built from your own blood, sweat and tears."**

**"Nobody said it wasn't going to be easy," Choumei added. "What point is there in building a perfect future if anyone can do it? No, you were chosen...a child loved by fate and nurtured by the ever fickle creature called destiny itself."**

**"A fledgling you are, Soichi," Saiken continued. "A fledgling struggling to hold his own in the cold, hard world. But Naruto...**

**"Remember-" Shukaku voiced.**

**"You-" Goku called.**

**"Are-" Matatabi purred.**

**"Never-" Isobu whispered.**

**"ALONE," the nine said in unison. I am home, he thought, radiance shinning throughout his entire being at their encouragement, before opening his eyes, and embracing the outside world once more.**

_With Naruto,  
><em>

"Oww...my head..." the blonde called out as he sat up from the excursion, before being refrained by a person seated next to him. A growl emitted from his mouth before he found it answered back with a glare just as sharp. As the figure revealed itself, Naruto found, to his great surprise, the bespectacled medic of the Moonlight Kingdom, Maria.

"How are you feeling?" she asked him emotionlessly, before reaching down to pour him a vial of some murky green liquid.

"I've seen better days," the blonde muttered back, accepting the drink. It tasted horrible, no doubt from the numerous herbs the healer has procured in making the elixir but when the blonde began making choking reflexes in rejecting the liquid from his system, Maria reached out once more and clamp his mouth shut, forcing him to take everything, medicine and all, down. As the last draining visage of the foul liquid slide down through his throat however, he felt a fiery sensation spread out from the pit of his stomach, all the way to his entire being. His gagging reflexes now under control, the blonde took a sigh of relief before turning to place a suspicious eye on the medic.

Maria, for her part however, was already busy packing away the empty glass. Turning a baleful eye once she had done so, she checked his pulse, bandages and irises once more before declaring him free from the poison that had came so very close to claiming his life only a few days ago. "You were lucky, anbu-san," she told him. "Were we even a second late in administering the antidote, then you would not even be here now."

"Why did you do it?" he asked quietly, in which Maria gave him a curious look. "Why did you...save the life of a mercenary?"

A slight twitch flashed across the medic's left eye and had Naruto not been looking closely, he would have missed it but he didn't. Realizing that he had finally touched upon a touchy subject, he sat up once more before returning a hard look. "Does it even matter?" Maria sighed. "We've saved your life, Naruto-kun. There's nothing to talk about..."

"You owe me this much for hiring me as your personal guard," he argued back, determined to get answers this time round. It was torture not knowing what the Moonlight soldiers were thinking about him. Were they friends? Were they allies? Or were they even enemies?

"I owe you _nothing_," she answered back, just as quietly. "However, I can see that you will stop, Naruto-kun. Know this though, if we are indeed to base your argument on baseless conjecture, it is _you who owes us_ for your life right now."

The Uzumaki's eyes narrowed to a frown at that but realized that Maria was right. He had no right to argue as to why they had chosen to save his life, seeing that, ironically, he actually owed it to them. If anything, he should be grateful for their actions but instead he wasn't. The Moonlight people had already told him that they didn't actually care if he lived or died but now that they had saved him, it contradicted everything he was told and that infuriated the blonde. In the ninja world, taking your enemies for granted was a serious offense, especially if it could cost you your life. But what about not being aware of your clients? This was a rather subtle rule and the blonde would not had been aware of it had Tsunade not given him the complementary anbu hand book along with his uniform. Because of the dangers of missions involving espionage, subterfuge and assassinations, anbus or rather "the dark side of shinobi" were always told to obey one single rule: _**TRUST NO ONE**_. At first, Naruto had scoffed at such a notion, believing that not having the ability to trust and be trusted by others was a flawed ideology that required to be weeded out in order for the new age to blossom. Now however, he realized why such an idea had persisted for thousands of generations; right there and then was the situation he himself had been so intricately placed in. He had no idea why his clients had saved him but he knew it wasn't because of a benevolent reason. The jounins who had failed previously before in the mission was more than a reason to suspect as much and it only made him think that he was no more than a stepping stone in the grand scheme of things. Although...the real question was...if there was indeed such a scheme, who was behind it and more importantly..._why?_

"I need to clear my head," he called out, before taking a small bow before the still seated Maria on the floor. Regardless of what the Moonlight soldiers had done, they had saved him and it would be a disgrace if he didn't offer her, or them, his heartfelt gratitude. "Thank you for saving me..."

"Maria," the medic addressed. "I'm Maria and think nothing of it, Naruto-kun. I was just doing my job. If you want to rest, you are more than welcome to do so but please bear in mind that some of us are practicing our skills outside and it would not do to interfere in the affairs of a duel. Especially between the members of my troop."

"How long was I out?"

"Three days," she answered back simply. "You've been tossing and turning like a dying pig and I was hardly able to get a small wink of sleep in days."

The blonde grimaced at that and quickly reached out for his mask once more. Already he was beginning to feel the assurance of the porcelain piece in hiding his facial expression. Before he could take a step out however, a sudden blaze of bloodlust radiated from the medic behind causing him to suddenly flinch before turning to face her slowly. Seated though she was, Maria looked...very intimidating, with the way her eyes were glaring at him now. "You're going to watch the fight, aren't you?" she asked dangerously, to which the blonde nodded back reflexively. "That wouldn't be wise but seeing that you will do so anyway, I wish you a enjoyable fight."

Thoroughly scared now, Naruto exited the tent before taking a moment to calm himself. One way or another, this deceptively harmless medic had managed to catch him unaware and caused him to slip out his intentions. How does she do that?! he thought. Despite having just started his mission, Naruto had always thought Maria to be the least threatening of the group, given the way everyone had always ignored her presence. And despite not liking this lack of respect or acceptance, Maria neither bothered to voiced out her disapproval nor her discontent. Her fellow team mates only saw her as a simple medic, perhaps much highly trained and more skillful than the average medic but still a medic nonetheless. In the great five shinobi nations, medical ninjas were always prioritize because of their expertise as well as the high amount of time, effort and dedication in achieving and maintaining such difficult skills.

The Moonlight kingdom however, was a different thing altogether. Samurais were trained to endure grueling amounts pain and endless fatigue just to be accepted as a potential candidate for admission into the samurai corps. They were trained to withstand such punishment without any medical aid in order to better help them overcome physical pain mentally. In fact, one of the reasons why the five elemental nations were so afraid of Moonlight samurai was not because of their relentless nature in slicing down enemies but rather their immense amount of endurance to physical pain. Inflicting a mortal wound would only make matters worse; another code of the Moonlight samurai corps was to always go down fighting and their act of brutal massacre on the battlefield would only worsened once they realized that they were going to die and hence were going to take as many enemies down before they did. This was also the reason why despite shinobi being a main focus everywhere else, the Moonlight nation choose to employ samurai as their front line units and shock troopers. Few people could stand fighting toe-to-toe with a enemy with an absurd amount of kunais, swords and other forms of weaponry stuck in their body, and if said enemy simple gave you a _grim laugh straight to your face_, it was hard to imagine a person doing anything else but turn tail and run.

This was why medics were viewed as the lowest job rank in the Moonlight Kingdom, albeit unofficially. Those who wanted to enter military service found the medical course the easiest on account of them not requiring them to attain or even maintain a certain amount of physical fitness. And because of such, other units, mostly samurai, looked down on both them and the shinobi corps for prioritizing their own safety first, before the welfare of the country first. That said however, Maria was no ordinary medic, and while the battle hardened samurai corps were always ill-treating the medic corps, they were always hesitant to do so with her. In fact, Akihiko, current prince and head of the samurai corps, was very afraid of the mellow medic. A fact that was far well respected by the bijuus themselves...

However, before Naruto could process such thoughts, the sound of metal clashing against metal could be heard from across the little camp and from there, his interest was piqued once more. Who Maria was, could wait later on, he decided. Right now was a chance to witness two of the Moonlight warriors clashing steel with one another and that was a rare sight to see. Filing his interest for Maria aside, he silently made his way towards the scene of the fight, finding each and everyone, save Maria herself, seated, watching the sight before them; two figures, one a samurai and the other a kunoichi crossing blades with one another. Nobody turned to see him as he arrived, hiding just behind the safety of the shadows and neither did they care; the fight was just reaching it's climax...

_With Takeishi and Kiyoko,_

"You've improved your abilities," the raven haired girl called out as she danced smoothly away from the painful bite of the white haired samurai's blade. Unlike his cherry, no-good-excuse for a leader, Takeishi was not someone even the likes of Kiyoko would take for granted. Raised by a clan compromising of excellent shinobis and being extensively trained in the shinobi arts himself before being transferred to the samurai corps, Takeishi was anything but a easy win from the anbu-master Kiyoko.

"You're not so bad yourself," he answered back with a small smile before tossing his blade up in the air and forming hand seals. A second later, the ground under the still dancing Kiyoko cracked as a huge burst of air was released from underneath her. Taking the fight slightly more seriously now, she jump gracefully aware before crossing the distance before them and slashing down at him, the blade only inches away from the male's face, before he reached with lightning quick speed and met it with his own sword, the sharp ring of satisfied metal as it met head on with another blade in the hands of a master. Both fighters jump back from the recoil but it was only when Takeishi looked up at Kiyoko once more that he realised that something was terribly wrong; the seventeen year old now had a sneer on her face as she saw the symbols she left on his sword flare up. Cursing at his carelessness, Takeishi made quickly to form a counterseal but even he could even attempt to do so, the seals ignited, and him along with it.

"I win this round, Takeishi-san," she cold out smugly. Re sheathing her blade once more, she made her way back to her circle of friends only to be frozen on the spot as she took in their stunned looks of amazement and horror before her. Turning around, she found the samurai completely unharmed but a white aura glowing straight from his body this time round as he waved the flames away. As he stepped away from the flames however, an eerie oath emitted from his mouth, each step regaining even more strength than before as he made his way towards her now, eager to return her nasty little surprise.

_"In days of peace, in nights of war,_

_Obey the laws forever more,_

_Let those who chose to do not so,_

_Fear the retributors, one soul for all!_

_Swear us Moonlight's protectors,_

_The samurai core!"_

Not on my watch! Kiyoko thought as she weaved through a set of hand seals before biting her head right thumb, drawing blood and taking as much in her mouth as she could. The seals completed, she spew its contents out, determined not give in to her opponent who had finally decided to unleash his true power. As blood mixed with flames, a huge explosion erupted from the raven haired girl's mouth. "Fire release: Blood Bane Eternal Flame Combo!"

Wind chakra enveloped the still white glowing Takeishi but Kiyoko knew it was pointless; fire trumps wind everytime and if anything, his wind affinity would only stock the flame. The blood bane eternal flame technique is not something that even the likes of you can overcome, Takeishi-san, she thought tiredly, her energy depleted as she willed herself to complete the technique. Many times had the raven-haired assassin used such a devastating technique when she was ordered by the higher-ups to leave no traces of her whereabouts to enemy ninjas. It was, however, a kinjutsu because of its near destructible in eliminating everything before it. Shinobis and to a lesser extent samurais with elite anbu capabilities were however, able to escape, though not completely unscathed because the technique could not burn away a soul who has strong enough chakra to withstand the unbearable heat but even then, they might prefer death over survival. And though Kiyoko realized that she might have gone overboard with the technique, there was no way of halting it until it was done. Besides, Takeishi was far above elite anbu level and he might suffer a few third degree burns and maybe even multiple scars but that was what you get when you played with fire.

"You oaths of chivalry and honour will not save you now!" she panted back, sweat pouring through her sides as the kunoichi finish the execution of the technique. "Do you know why we ninjas survived only this long?! It's because real combat requires no such thing as honour or code! In the end, death is the only thing that matters and deception the true way of the warrior!"

"ARGH!" a loud pitch screamed echoed from the centre of the flames, before completely disappearing as each of the blood flames were no being sucked into the white haired samurai's sword. Shock turned to horror as Kiyoko saw what he had done; by sealing her own technique into his blade, he had done the very same thing Naruto had used against Hanako during their fight previously. However, there was one simple difference; known as the Wind Raker, Takeishi could bend anything wind based for his own uses and now that he had a near limitless supply of her own flames sealed into his blade, there would only be one outcome...

"Before I strike you down for insulting the very core of the samurai corps, I will let you drawn your blade Kiyoko," the white haired man rumbled. He might have survived the last attack by his own ingenuity and cunning but he had also paid a terrible price for it as well; half his attire, garb and all, was completely singed off and numerous third degree burns littered his torso and face. His hair was a mangled blackened mess but his eyes...his eyes were nothing more than white slits lined with raw energy, the same energy that had empowered Hanako, Hikaru, Ryo and Midori when they themselves had released it before.

For what it was worth however, Kiyoko smirked back, welcoming such a challenged. Exhausted, wounded and drained though she was, this was what she had been waiting for; an insurmountable task, one in which if she did survived signaled her potential growth as a shinobi and there was just no way she was going to lose. Here, or in the future. Ever. As Takeishi waited for her to draw her blade, Kiyoko instead weave through another set of hand seals, before calling out, "**I embrace the shadows**!" And no sooner had she done so, her entire body vanished underneath the dark shades she had been standing on this entire time.

"Your genjutsu won't work on me! Kai (release)!" Takeishi snarled, only to realised that this was no mere illusion. "I gave you a chance to draw your blade and this is how you repay my kindness...very well, Kiyoko-san. I won't go easy on you anymore!"

"Oh really? Try me," she taunted appearing from the ground beneath him as the samurai reached out and slashed her thin figure before him. His face hardened into a deep scowl as sword met torso, only to pass right through it, her form no more corporeal than the very shadow she had now become. "There was a simple reason why I attained the rank of killer at the age of twelve. Have you forgotten my past as the shadow weaver? No blade can touch the shadows...so tell me, how do you plan to fight something you cannot even cut?!"

"Like this!" he snarled back, as he ignited the naked blade of his sword with her own flames before plunging it deep into her torso. A huge scream broke out as flaming metal sliced through previously non-corporeal matter. Eyes full of pain glared up at him now as the samurai pulled the blade away. "Chakra is the lynchpin of all shinobi arts, though we never consider its counterpart...blood. With the essence of your chakra in your very life blood itself sealed in those flames of yours, it was only far too easy to reverse that undefeated technique of yours. So tell me, Kiyoko-san...what happens when the shadow falls before the might of a thousand flames?"

"Damn you," the assassin replied, before teleporting herself a safe distance away. "I will prevail...I MUST prevail...I cannot lose to _her_..."

Armed once more with two kunais, Kiyoko began her relentless barrage once more with the white haired samurai but as the battled dragged even longer still, everyone knew who the winner would be. Kiyoko might be putting up her bold front but like so many kunoichi like her, she specialized in stealth and assassination techniques, not open combat. Something that the far more experienced Takeishi was a master in. Like Naruto, her friends were all worried now but not Takeishi. When he had insulted the samurai's code of conduct, he had disgraced their corps altogether and being a no-nonsense person, he was going to teach this insufferable little kunoichi just what it meant in fighting a true combat expert without the element of surprise. A final feint later, Kiyoko collapsed onto the floor exhausted but as she struggled to stand up once more, the white haired samurai stepped forward, his eyes a blaze of intensity, as he swung his entire sword, blade and all straight towards her head. As everyone turned to stare in horror at what Takeishi had done, Kiyoko finally fell to the ground, her body a battered mess but a huge bruise on her forehead. At the very moment, he had turned his blade sideways so as to strike her down with the flat of his blade instead of the edge. Despicable and rude though Kiyoko was, she was a talented and loyal but she still had a long way to go before standing up to someone the likes of him.

"You went too far," Naruto called out as he appeared in front of Takeishi, shocking everyone once more at the blonde's stillness. "Comrades do not try to kill one another."

"I do not expect you to understand," Takeishi said, turning away from the blonde. "Those ignorant of the samurai law can never hope to reach our peaks but those who know it and yet choose to belittle it deserved no better than Kiyoko."

"Kiyoko is right!" Naruto called out now. He didn't know where this anger was coming from, but he knew one thing; this was injustice. Hurting someone this far just because of a few words, spar or no spar, was stretching things too far. "You honour has no root if you place it even higher than the lives of your friends!"

"As I said, you do not understand the samurai code of conduct," Takeishi answered back. "Do not even think to anger me, Naruto-kun. The words of an outsider who is ignorant of my way of life cannot harm me or my code. You are not within its jurisdiction, unlike Kiyoko-san."

"You are a coward and a fool," the blonde whispered dangerously. "I challenged you right here and now for the sake of my honour as a shinobi."

Takeishi however, was no longer paying attention, as he angled towards Maria's tent. Everyone gazing at the two of them. It was hard to challenge the blonde's statement seeing that despite not knowing the samurai's law, Naruto was still willing to stake his honour as a Konoha shinobi for what he believed in, even after suffering such a near brush with death. His act was not unnoticed and everyone, even the usually cynical Midori had begun to developed a grudging respect towards him now, if they haven't already. Yet, Takeishi was also right in his own accord. Brought up as a shinobi, but finding solace in the samurai's code, no one could blame him for his actions. Many times had he warned Kiyoko to never spoke ill of the Samurai way but she had never paid any heed or warning. Despite all this however, Takeishi was refrained by the law itself to never harm an innocent outside of combat. Disrespecting the code against a warrior, ally or not, in combat however, was a different thing altogether. When you made fun of the law outside, it just shows how inconsiderate you are but when you insult it in combat, it was considered a nigh on unforgivable since warriors, shinobi or samurai, were required to at least show a certain amount of courtesy to one another's fighting techniques. Despite this however, many shinobi had long forgotten the ways of the warrior and it was another reason why samurais and ninjas rarely ever got along.

Of course, Ryo and the others might lived by this code but they were also somewhat more flexible in it than Takeishi. They had taken liberations, although strictly speaking, they shouldn't have done so but in this modern age, Ryo believed that the samurai's mentality needed to change if it were to adapt to the every progressing nature of humanity.

Moonlight's samurai law however, had one additional line. Someone totally ignorant of it can never be judged by it and this was the reason why Naruto was ignored by Takeishi altogether. As far as the samurai was concerned, Naruto was protected by his innocence but should he be aware of it, then the same thing would happen to him as it did to Kiyoko. As the blonde continued throwing insults towards the white haired samurai, Midori and Hanako appeared next to him before clamping his mouth shut.

"Enough!" the green haired girl hissed. "The first you do after you heal is get into trouble?! Maybe we should have left you for dead!"

She soon regretted her choice of words as a very angry Hikaru aimed a kick at her right leg before appearing next to Hanako. "Midori-chan is right, nii-san," the red haired girl told him. "There is no point in voicing out your anger. Takeishi-san will never pay you attention as long as you are unaware of what it truly means to be a samurai."

"Then tell me," he demanded.

"If that is what you wish, Naruto-kun..." Ryo voiced as all three females turned to gave him a horrifying look. This just got all the more worst...

* * *

><p>Chapter end<p>

I'm back guys! Time to get some serious writing done! Side stories will be put on hold until this gets interesting again [apologies for that]

Apart from that-currently planning a Phoenix wright side series involving the lost romance between Iris Fey and Phoenix Wright. Hope you guys check it out once its posted but until this story gets going, even that will have to wait. As usual leave your comments below but no flames!


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